


Road to Happiness

by sktrgrl13



Series: The Core of Magic Tetralogy [3]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Also written in 2013 so bear with me!, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And they both need to get off the guilt train sometimes, BAMF Gray, BAMF Makarov, Children are the best form of Birth Control, Cliffhangers, Even Eight Year Olds know that, Extra Magic Powers, F/M, Fear, Feels, Fighting, Fluff, Godparents, Implied Sexual Content, Irrational Council, Lets be Real they're both stubborn, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Mpreg, My OCs are Jerks, Natsu and Gray as Parents, Pre-END, Pre-Tartaros Arc (Fairy Tail), Protective Gray, Reunions, Sorry these Tags are getting Sassy!, They Really Can Never catch a Break, They should get a life sometime, Timeskips, Triggers, Yes You Saw That Right, bamf natsu, communication is key, dark themes, or at least I try, protective Natsu, shaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 15:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 45,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11316174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sktrgrl13/pseuds/sktrgrl13
Summary: Sequel to Save Me, Help Me, Free Me and Forgive Me, Kiss Me, Love Me - Three years have passed since Lyon's sacrifice... things are slowly beginning to return to normal for Gray and Natsu. However, it seems that fate has some more twists and turns ahead of them and they are going to have to stick together in order to pull through; for the road to happiness isn't easy... boyxboy!





	1. The Unknown Scent

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is a 19 Chapter Monster that you'll have to read through before reaching the last installment of the series.. I am sorry for any inconsistencies that you may stumble upon along the way!
> 
> If you are not a fan of MPreg, I suggest you turn tail and run now as this is where it comes into play (and will continue to be integral into the last installment).
> 
> Thank you so much for all your continued support and I hope all of the new readers enjoy this fossil! 
> 
> sktrgrl

A soothing, spring rain drizzled softly onto the newly green earth. Flowers and weeds were beginning to take root in the ground and the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom on the once bare limbs. Morning dew and rain drops danced across the tomb stones, cleansing them in their own special way. The sun could be seen rising in the horizon, slowly lighting the streets of Magnolia in each passing minute.

Despite the silent and sleeping town, one lone figure stood before a limestone grave. His raven hair was messy and damp causing it to hang in his mismatched eyes. His alabaster skin was flawless even with the scars that marred his right eye, neck, collarbone and shoulder. As to be expected of him, he wasn’t wearing a shirt, despite the cold droplets of water falling onto him. His navy blue guild mark stood out brightly against his chest and seemed to shine with undying pride.

He slowly lowered himself to the damp ground and sat in front of the grave. Cautiously, he reached out his hand and traced the guild insignia like he had on that dreadful day three years ago. His mind was overwhelmed with different emotions, like every time he came to visit; but this time, he had a small smile on his face. He dropped his hand from the insignia and slowly started to trace the name on the stone.

“Hey there bro,” He sighed, “Sorry that I haven’t been here in a couple weeks. Things have been pretty hectic lately.”

Gray lowered his head tiredly and let his arm drop to his side. He laughed to himself when something came to mind; something that Lyon would have wanted to know if he was still by his side.

“Lyon,” He whispered, “You wouldn’t believe what happened.”

Of course, no one answered, but his smile remained. He could almost imagine his brother pestering him about what happened and then start freaking out and jumping to conclusions. Although, the late mage probably would have figured it out right away and then beat the fire dragon slayer to a pulp. This caused a small chuckle to escape his lips and wiped the rain off his face before continuing.

“Well, I guess I can sum it all up by saying that if you were alive you would probably hunt down Natsu and cut his balls off.” Gray laughed again, “Hell, maybe you would even murder him.”

The smile on Gray’s face faltered slightly as the memories of that fateful day replayed in his mind’s eye,

“I’m sorry about what happened to you,” A slow tear travelled down his cheek, “But I know that if you were here, you’d tell me that you did it to save me and that you wouldn’t have it happen any other way.”

He glanced back up at the tombstone again before creating flowers with his ice magic. He didn’t know how long they would last, but he was hoping that they would remain until the next time that he visited. He shakily pushed himself to his feet and placed his hand on top of the limestone to brush off some of the rain that had collected itself there. He was about to move away when a wave of dizziness went through him. His legs started to quiver uncertainly, as if they couldn’t hold his weight.

He waited for the dizzy spell to pass as it normally has been for the past week; he hasn’t mentioned anything to his pink haired dragon slayer because they have already been through enough shit. It was probably nothing anyway and he didn’t want to worry his lover again; especially since Natsu was just starting to relax again and not worry about him constantly. It has been a trying ordeal, but they were both slowly getting through it together. When he felt that the world had righted itself, he let go of the grave stone and glanced at the name on it one last time.

“I’ll talk to you later Lyon,” He waved slightly, “If I don’t get back home before the fire bastard wakes up then I won’t hear the end of it.”

He started to leave when his legs suddenly buckled, bring him roughly to his knees. The ice mage hissed in pain, but that was soon followed by a bout of nausea which succeeded in obtaining its freedom. Gray grimaced when the meager contents of his stomach decorated the wet pathway. His throat burned from the acid and he was completely exhausted; this has been happening a lot lately as well, but like the dizziness, he didn’t feel the need to tell Natsu about it. After all, it just strengthened his idea towards it just being the flu. When he felt like he was done, he slowly pushed himself back to his feet and started his way back home.

FTFTFTFTFT

Natsu paced back and forth in the kitchen biting his lower lip anxiously. When he had awoken that morning to an empty bed, he immediately started to worry; but then he realized that it was getting close to what would’ve been Lyon’s twenty-third birthday so he assumed that his ice mage had went to visit his grave. So he wasn’t worried about that, but he was worried about the strange scent that seemed to be lingering on Gray for the past few weeks.

He had a feeling he knew what it was, but it shouldn’t even be possible. He had spent most of the early morning pacing around trying to come up with other possible reasons; but it wasn’t going over so well. As Natsu thought about it, he realized that his lover hasn’t been looking too good; almost as if he was sick, but Gray hadn’t said anything so he overlooked it. However, the pinkette couldn’t help but regret overlooking it.

The dragon slayer stopped his ministrations when he heard the front door open and close quietly. He watched the raven haired man enter the kitchen and look him in the eyes; even if it had been three years, he couldn’t get used to the pale blue eye staring at him. Wendy was able to heal it enough so that he regained his vision, even if it was a little worse than his other one, but the colour didn’t revert back to its natural deep blue. Natsu tried to hold back a laugh when he saw the look of shock and embarrassment of being caught appeared on Gray’s face. The dragon slayer walked up to his mate and pulled him into a hug.

“Next time leave a note.” Natsu laughed as he kissed the tip of Gray’s nose.

A blush spread across Gray’s alabaster cheeks and he nodded before leaning his head against Natsu’s shoulder. The dragon slayer scooped the ice mage into his arms prompting a squeak of surprise to emit from the smaller. Natsu chuckled softly and carried Gray to their room and placed him on the bed gently. He then joined the raven and pulled him against his chest; the raven nuzzled his head into Natsu’s neck and sighed in contentment,

“Sorry,” He whispered, “I’ll remember next time.”

Natsu ran his hands rhythmically through the soft raven hair,

“So how did it go?”

“Pretty good,” Gray laughed, “I just wanted to get him up to speed that’s all.”

Natsu was going to respond when that strange scent entered his nostrils again. He scrunched up his nose at the odd smell; it smelt like a mixture of cinnamon and mint. The mint would probably be Gray and he was told by Wendy that he smelt like cinnamon; but he should not be able to smell himself. The thoughts he stumbled upon earlier flowed through his head; he wanted to shake his head at the impossibility, but he had to ask, just to be sure.

“Gray…”

The mage glanced up at him,

“Yeah?”

Natsu chewed on his lip before speaking,

“Have you been feeling okay lately?”

He felt the raven tense in his arms and that was enough of an answer for him. Natsu sat up and looked over at his confused lover worriedly.

“How long and what’s been happening?”

Gray closed his eyes before slowly pushing himself up so he could grab his lover’s hand,

“It’s been a week or so I guess and it’s only been a bit of nausea and dizziness; it’s probably just the flu.”

A chill travelled up Natsu’s spine as Gray unknowingly confirmed his theory. Natsu buried his face in his free hand and then ran it through his pink spikes,

“Lyon’s going to haunt me.”

Gray raised a dark eyebrow at the dragon slayer,

“What makes you say that?”

Natsu sighed before pulling Gray onto his lap so that they were sitting face to face. He flinched at the worry that decorated his mate’s face, but continued to stare into his eyes.

“It’s not the flu love,” He whispered, “It’s something even more serious than that.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“For the past couple weeks, I’ve noticed another scent lingering around our house and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was; that is until you told me that you’ve been feeling sick.” Natsu glanced away for a moment in an attempt to collect his thoughts, “Gray, I think you’re pregnant.”

TBC


	2. Are You Sure Natsu?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mashima owns the world that is FT and my feels!

Complete silence swallowed the room in an eerie tension; Gray stared at his lover with this mouth hanging open in shock. The world seemed to swim around him as the words Natsu just said tried to sink in. The raven blinked a few times in disbelief before his hand unconsciously traveled to rest on his bare stomach. He broke eye contact with the pinkette and stared down at the now flat stomach and tried to imagine it round; let’s just say what showed up in his head wasn’t exactly pretty.

Gray swallowed the growing lump in his throat with difficulty before shifting his gaze toward his dragon slayer again. He noticed Natsu looked just as freaked out and nervous as he did; but there was also a sense of want underneath his surface emotions. The mage lifted his freehand and rested it on Natsu’s burning cheek; he gazed deeply into the onyx eyes searching for anything that would hint toward a very bad joke, but he found none.

“Natsu,” He whispered nervously, “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yeah…”

“Like 100% sure?”

Natsu nodded in confirmation before wrapping his arms, albeit a little hesitantly, around the smaller male’s waist. Gray nuzzled his head into the tan neck in front of him and he felt tears spring to his eyes.

“I-I don’t know if I can do this…” His voice cracked.

The dragon slayer held onto the now trembling mage even tighter and gently ran his hands through his hair as he did earlier. The raven slowly began to settle down, but the tension and fear could be felt rolling off him in waves.

“Everything is going to work out,” Natsu soothed gently, “I’ll be by your side the entire time.”

“You don’t understand,” Gray pulled away and stared his lover in the eyes, “I can’t do this; I’ll end up hurting it in some way I know it.”

“Gray…”

“Everyone I meet ends up dead!” He cried, “What if I kill the baby?!”

“Gray…”

“What if it gets the Core of Magic?! What will the council do when they find out that the strongest dragon slayer of Fairy Tail mated with the Core of Magic?! What if someone comes after it?!”

“GRAY!”

The ice mage snapped his mouth shut and stared at Natsu pleadingly. The pinkette pulled him closer so that he was cocooned in the curve of Natsu’s stomach. They both fell back onto the bed and just watched each other, refusing to break eye contact in fear of their world crumbling around them if they did.

Gray wrapped his arms tightly around his love and pressed his face against the warm chest once more. Natsu rubbed soothing circles into the ice mages lower back and listened to his lover’s breaths regulate every passing moment that they laid together. When he was sure that the love of his life had calmed down, Natsu started to talk.

“Listen to me,” He whispered, “We’re not going to let anything happen to the baby alright? You’re not going to hurt him and you’re sure as hell not bad luck Gray Fullbuster; you didn’t ask for those things to happen to you. Imagine what Lyon would say if he heard you saying things like that you ice block.”

“He’d probably say that I was a complete idiot and then punch me for it…”

“Damn right he would,” Natsu smiled softly, “And then I’d have to kick his ass for hitting you and then an all-out brawl would start; then Erza would get mad and probably kill us all.”

Gray chuckled,

“Yeah, most likely.”

“As for the Core of Magic; if it possesses it, then we’ll protect it with everything we have.”

“What about the Magic Council?”

Natsu sighed before placing his forehead against Gray’s,

“I’ll tell you the same thing that I told Makarov when he told me what the Magic Council would do if we didn’t save you from Shadowsky on time… the Magic Council can kiss my ass! I don’t care if they supposedly rule Fiore; if they try and hurt our child or you, I’ll incinerate them!”

Gray gazed into the pools of onyx and he saw nothing but love and determination flickering in them. The ice mage pressed his lips against the dragon slayer’s for a few moments before pulling away. He nuzzled into the crook of Natsu’s neck once more and closed his exhausted eyes; he didn’t know how tired he was until this moment.

“I love you.” He whispered.

“I love you too.”

With the feeling of warm lips pressing against his cool forehead, Gray drifted off into the land of dreams.

FTFTFTFT

Even as the raven’s breath eased into a soft and continuous symphony, Natsu remained beside him. His hand absently carded through the raven locks and let the scent of mint and cinnamon ease his troubled thoughts. Although the scent had originally been the source of his troubled thoughts to begin with, it had transformed into something along the lines of happiness and anxiousness. He’d never tell his tsundere lover, but he was excited to see Gray get big and round; the mage had always been kind of lean and with Lyon’s death he practically refused to eat, so he was even more slender than necessary.

In Natsu’s opinion, Gray would make an adorable round person; but he also knew that the raven would think otherwise. Hesitantly, he reached out and placed his hand on Gray’s exposed abs; a sigh of contentment escaped the ice mage’s lips causing a small laugh to escape from the dragon slayer. He pulled the smaller male closer to his chest and started to drift off as well when someone knocked on the front door.

Natsu originally wanted to ignore it, but if the person was persistent they would probably wake up the ice mage; the worst think someone could do was wake up the ice mage when he was having a nap. Natsu shuddered when he thought about the last time it happened; Gray almost turned their entire house into ice.

The dragon slayer carefully unlatched the ice mage’s arms from his body and rolled off the bed quietly. The knocking continued as he tried to get to the door as fast as he possibly could without breaking anything. He successfully made it to the door and pulled it open; Master Makarov, Erza, Lucy, Wendy and Gajeel were standing on their doorstep. Natsu raised an eyebrow in confusion before stepping outside and shutting the door silently. He tried to decipher their expressions, but he couldn’t read them. They seemed worried, angry, happy and excited all at once; well Gajeel just seemed worried and angry… Gajeel was never excited.

“What’s going on?”

“Is Gray here?” Makarov asked bluntly.

“He’s inside resting,” He answered, concern lacing his voice, “Why is something wrong?”

“You see, Gajeel and Wendy pointed something out to us the other day,” Lucy explained, “And we were wondering if it’s true.”

Natsu’s onyx eyes rested on the red eyes of Gajeel and the blue eyes of Wendy before he spoke again,

“So you noticed the scent too then?”

“Cinnamon and mint,” Gajeel muttered, “And it’s different from the scent that protects Gray from enemy dragon slayers.”

“Natsu,” Erza stepped forward and placed her armoured hand on his shoulder, “Is Gray, somehow, possibly pregnant.”

He looked at his friends silently and then moved his gaze to the closed door behind him. He turned to face them again and nodded slowly. Even though they probably had some sort of idea toward what was happening, their expressions were still a very wide range. Lucy and Wendy both squealed while Erza got a strange glint in her eye; a glint that said ‘if you hurt Gray, I’ll kick your ass’. Gajeel looked somewhat surprised that their theory was confirmed, but it quickly became smug. Makarov, however, had a very worried look on his face and it made him a little anxious.

“Gramps,” He lowered his voice, “tell me what’s wrong.”

Makarov sighed sadly before he spoke,

“The Magic Council sensed a strange growth of power in Fiore; they don’t know where it is yet, but I think it might by from the child Gray is carrying. If that is truly the case, the Magic Council will become involved. It was pure luck and timing that saved Gray from being executed by the council last time, but this time he might not be so lucky.”

Natsu growled,

“They will not get anywhere near Gray; not then, not now and not ever.”

“Uh, Makarov-sama…” Wendy whispered, “I understand that the Core of Magic Gray-kun possesses is very powerful, but why is the Magic Council so afraid of it? Sure, we go a bit overboard at times, but Gray-kun refuses to use the core against anyone.”

“They don’t care whether or not Gray would use it child,” Makarov explained, “They only care that the core is in existence; they fear anything that is more powerful than them.”

“If that’s true,” Gajeel growled, “Then the child isn’t safe either.”

“Exactly,” Makarov nodded, “Even if the child doesn’t inherit the Core, he could still inherit Gray’s ice magic or Natsu’s dragon slayer magic.”

“But Master,” Lucy spoke up, “Why would that matter?”

“Because, he could inherit both types of magic, making it the only mage in history to have power over opposing elements.”

Natsu turned at the voice and came eye to eye with Gray himself. Sadness could be evidently seen in his blue orbs and it nearly broke his heart in two. Their friends were also staring at the ice mage sadly, but Gray just merely avoided their gaze. The group stood in silence until the guild master stepped forward and placed his hand on Gray’s leg as a sign of comfort.

“But we’ll do everything in our power to keep the child safe; the council won’t be able to pinpoint the source of excessive magic until the baby is full term.”

“What happens after the baby is born?” Natsu growled dangerously, “It’s not like I’m going to hand over both Gray and the baby to those bastards!”

“We weren’t planning on it,” Erza smiled darkly, “That’s when we do what Fairy Tail does best.”

“You mean go overboard?” Lucy whispered sarcastically, “Maybe destroy an entire town.”

“That could be arranged.” Gajeel smirked.

“That’s not what I meant you idiots!” Erza screamed before knocking them over the head, “I meant we would fight them if need be; we’ll protect Gray and the child… right Natsu?”

Natsu smiled before looping an arm around Gray’s waist,

“Aye.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Nervousness and Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You Know the Drill ;)

“I am not, I repeat **not** , going to the guild until this pregnancy is over!” Gray growled venomously as his hands rested, subconsciously, on his rounding abdomen.

Natsu sighed exasperatedly and massaged his temples in order to subdue his ever growing headache. If anyone were to ask if he absolutely loved Gray Fullbuster, he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes; but over the past couple months, the raven has been harder to handle than normal. Sure, he was a pregnant _male_ so there was bound to be some issues, but he never expected the ice mage to be so self-conscious. Gray hasn’t even taken off his shirt since he started showing and has all but locked himself in the house. Not only that, but he has been complaining about his body like no tomorrow; the pinkette thought that he was going to lose his mind.

“Everyone is worried about you ice block!” The pinkette tried, “They just want to know if you’re doing alright.”

“Couldn’t you just **tell** them that I’m alright?” He huffed stubbornly, “I don’t want them gawking at me.”

“They won’t gawk at you Gray; they’re family!”

Gray’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he approached his pink haired boyfriend,

“I know that they’re family, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for them to see me like this Natsu! You know I don’t like it when I’m the center of attention; you know that it makes me uncomfortable, it always has.”

The pinkette reached out to the raven haired man and pulled him into a loose embrace. Gray didn’t fight him off, but he refused to look into the onyx eyes that always had the ability to talk him into situations that he really didn’t want to be a part of. He felt a warm hand caressing his swelling belly and he couldn’t stop the sound of contentment that escaped his lips. He placed his own cold hands on the warm one and allowed himself to look into the onyx eyes. When he gazed into them he saw warmth, love and anxiety; the exact same emotions that he was harbouring inside him.

“You can do this love,” Natsu encouraged as he placed his lips on the raven’s forehead, “I know you can.”

“You’re always telling me that I can do it, but I’m not sure if I can.” Gray admitted sorrowfully, “I know I sound like a broken record, but I seriously don’t know if I can do this whole father thing. I’m not exactly the warmest human around Natsu, maybe that’s why the ice called to me like it did. It kept me guarded and protected; it kept me away from any pain. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t remember what my father did to me; the ice froze a part of me away so that I wouldn’t hurt anymore. What if I’m too cold and our child hates me?! I don’t know what I would do!”

“Shhhh,” The dragon slayer used his free hand to cup the side of Gray’s face, “You’re not a cold person, believe me. Our child is going to love you and admire you just as much as I do; he’s going to look at you and see a papa that would do anything in his power to keep his family safe. You have nothing to worry about, alright? Everything is going to be perfect and no one is going to change that.”

“But…”

“Gray, just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t slap you over the head for your stupidity.”

“Who are you calling stupid?!” He growled, “Damn fire bastard.”

Natsu laughed before placing a soft kiss on his lover’s cold lips,

“I know, but you love me.”

“Do I now?” Gray smirked, “What gives you that idea?”

Natsu dropped to his knees and slowly rolled up Gray’s baggy t-shirt so that the bump was right in front of his eyes. He gently placed his warm lips on the swollen stomach and caressed the raven’s sides. The ice mage felt shocks travel up his spine as he did so and he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Natsu being a father; the kid was sure to be spoiled rotten. He closed his eyes and he was able to imagine an identical, but smaller, version of Natsu running around the guild hall causing chaos for everyone including his parents; the thought immediately put a smile on his face. The sound of Natsu’s chuckle brought him out of his thoughts,

“What are you thinking about?”

“How destructive your kid is going to be.”

“Hey, don’t forget it’s your kid too popsicle.” The dragon slayer stood back up and kissed his nose.

“Oh great… the guild won’t be standing anymore by the time the kid reaches his teens.” Gray laughed while massaging his stomach.

Natsu cupped Gray’s cheeks once more before leaning his forehead against his lover’s. The raven closed his eyes and sighed in defeat; when he opened them again, the pinkette was staring into his blue eyes intensely.

“Fine, we’ll go to the guild.” Gray muttered, “But only so Makarov can check the progress of the baby and so we can reveal the godparents; deal?”

“Deal!” Natsu smiled brightly before adjusting his lover’s oversized shirt over the bump and grabbing him by the hand.

FTFTFTFT

Gray allowed the energetic dragon slayer to half drag him to the guild hall. As the couple got closer and closer, his heart started to beat faster and he was feeling light headed. When the guild came into view and the doors were in arms reach, he instantaneously dug his heels in almost causing Natsu to fall face first on the pavement.

“Natsu this was a bad idea… I want to go back to the apartment.”

The pinkette sighed before facing the raven eye to eye,

“Gray Fullbuster, you are going to go into that guild hall, up to the second floor and into the infirmary or so help me I will lift you over my shoulder and I will carry you.”

“I don’t think fireman carrying me is good for the baby…”

“Stop being a smartass you damn exhibitionist.” Natsu smirked, “Let’s just get this done and then we can go home… remember our deal?”

“Yes…” Gray grumbled.

“Then get your hot ass moving ice block before I do carry you.”

“N-Natsu,” A light blush spread across the bridge of his nose, “Don’t say shit like that!”

The pinkette chuckled at the raven’s flustered face as he led the ice maker through the door. When the doors swung open, the guild went silent and stared at the two figures at the door. Every fibre of Gray’s being told him to turn around and run, but the dragon slayer had a firm grip on his hand preventing him from going anywhere. As Gray tensed and waited for the laughs to engulf the hall; he was instead welcomed by the sound of cheering and clapping.

His muscles started to relax when he was suddenly swarmed by Levy, Cana, Mirajane and Lisanna who were cooing at his baby bump and asking him how he was doing. He struggled to find the right words and follow the conversation, but found he was having a rather difficult time. Natsu on the other hand was getting slaps on the backs by Elfman, Wakaba, Macao and even Laxus; Gray would pay anything to switch positions with the lucky fire bastard.

“NATSU DRAGNEEL AND GRAY FULLBUSTER YOU’RE LATE!”

Everyone in the guild hall froze at the enraged voice of Erza Scarlet as she descended the stairs. Gray instinctively moved closer to Natsu and held onto the pinkette’s hand tightly. Her angry aura flowed through the guild hall like a shark searching for its pray. When she finally made it to the front doors, she stood in front of the two boys with a dark glint in her eyes. She raised her fist threateningly and Gray flinched and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes and found Natsu lying face down on the floor with two bumps growing on his head simultaneously.

“N-Natsu?!”

Erza laughed as she placed her hand on Gray’s shoulder,

“Do you honestly think I’d hit a pregnant man?”

Gray smiled and looked down at his injured boyfriend; maybe being the pregnant one had its perks after all.

FTFTFTFT

After Natsu recovered from Erza’s doubled punishment, the two lovers along with Lucy, Gajeel, and Wendy followed the armoured mage to the second floor where Master Makarov was waiting for them. Gray’s heart was once again pounding in his chest, but this time it was from worrying about the baby. Was it going to have defects and was it healthy? The sex of the baby also came to mind, but he knew that it was still a little too early for that at the moment; maybe in a couple months they would know, but until then they would be waiting in suspense. Without even realizing it, the group had already arrived at the room they were supposed to be in.

Gray could feel his flight or fight response kicking in, but before he could choose, Natsu had his hand around his again. He glanced up at his dragon slayer and he immediately found confidence in his lover’s gaze which in turn instilled his own resolve. Erza slowly pushed the door open and led the party into the room. Gray saw a hospital bed in the middle of the room with different machines attached to it; the raven and the pinkette slowly made their way over and he sat on the bed with Natsu standing comfortably standing beside him.  Lucy, Gajeel, Wendy and Erza stood to the side, but they weren’t too far since they wanted to see the baby too.

Around ten minutes passed, Master Makarov finally entered the room with Porlyusica following close behind him. The room became tense at the sight of the reclusive doctor since she was known for her sharp tongue and hate of humans. Despite it being over ten years since she’s been seen by Fairy Tail, she hadn’t seemed to age at all. Her red eyes, strawberry blonde hair and physic stayed the same; the only way you could tell her age would be by looking at the tiredness that lingered in her eyes. Both of the elders approached the hospital bed and stopped in front of Gray and Natsu. Porlyusica stared at the boys down the bridge of her nose before a small smile spread across her fine lips.

“So, you’re the ones who broke the laws of physics and biology,” She smirked, “Interesting, but not unexpected.”

“NOT UNEXPECTED?!” Gray growled, “I’M A PREGNANT MAN FOR GODSAKE!”

“Yes, but you also mated with a dragon slayer while knowing you were holding the Core of Magic; mixing two energies like you did was bound to make something happen you idiotic humans.”

Gray muttered under his breath and looked away from her scrutinizing red eyes. Makarov cleared his throat and stepped forward; all eyes turned on him.

“Porlyusica is here to handle Gray’s pregnancy and birth,” He explained, “I just don’t have the proper experience to handle this. You are to do everything she says and answer any questions she may have; is that clear?”

“Yes Gramps.” They muttered in unison.

“Alright,” Porlyusica stepped forward again, “Gray could you please lay down so I can set the ultrasound up?”

Gray nodded awkwardly before slowly rolling his shirt up and lying on his back. He searched absently for Natsu’s hand and found it easily; he felt the dragon slayer’s grip tighten for reassurance. The older woman walked up to Gray and poured some weird coloured gel on her hands,

“This is supposed to feel cold, but I doubt you’ll feel anything too significant.” She warned.

The ice mage simply nodded as she began to place the cream on his stomach; she was right, he didn’t really feel anything when she touched him. She turned on the monitor beside his bed and his friends, including Gajeel, gathered closer around the bed to get a better look at the baby. She picked up some sort of receiver and moved it around Gray’s gelled stomach searching for the fetus. Slowly, a form started to form on the screen, almost like magic. Gray could feel tears in the corner of his eyes; he glanced away from the screen briefly and up at Natsu to see that he was totally transfixed by the screen.

“Gray,” Porlyusica’s voice interrupted his thoughts, “How far along are you; four months?”

“Yeah, just went on four months this week.” He answered nervously, “Why? Is something wrong?!”

The woman looked at the monitor in confusion and then back at Gray’s stomach. He could feel the anxiety building up in him and could feel Natsu getting tense as well,

“What’s wrong?” Natsu demanded.

“Nothing major, I just noticed that Gray is abnormally large for someone at four months and I noticed something on the monitor that would be beneficial for you to know…”

“Is the baby alright?!” Gray’s voice cracked.

“The **babies** are perfectly healthy Mr. Fullbuster don’t get your knickers in a twist.” She smiled, “Honestly!”

“Babies… you said babies… does that mean…” Lucy stuttered tears of happiness in her eyes.

“TWINS?!”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Things Get Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onward my brethren!

“You can’t be serious?!” Gray’s voice cracked, “T-TWINS?!”

Porlyusica couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the normally violent icy human’s reaction. His mouth had fallen open and his smooth alabaster face had inevitably gotten even paler. What made her smile widen was the reaction of the equally violent heated human. His onyx eyes had bugged out of his head and he kept looking from Gray’s swollen abdomen and back at the screen; they were going to make an interesting set of parents that was for sure. The question that was sure to be on everyone’s minds was if whether or not the guild will still be standing by the time the twins learned how walk.

“I am completely serious Fullbuster,” She nodded, “I have no reason to lie to you.”

“You would if you wanted to purposefully give me a heart attack!”

“Absolutely not,” She crossed her arms defiantly, “That means I’d have to treat you, you idiotic human.”

Gray opened his mouth to retort when Natsu squeezed his hand and immediately got his attention,

“We’re going to have two babies…”

“I know, how are we going to even do it?!” Gray yelled, “I had doubts about us being able to manage one, but now we’re going to have to deal with two at once!”

Natsu laid his warm hand on the baby bump which caused a small smile to spread across his lips. He could almost imagine his two children running around the guild already; the guild was definitely going to be messier than usual. He turned his head so he was staring into his lovers blue orbs before answering him,

“We’ll do what we always do; we’ll fight through it.”

“You certainly will not!” Erza cried, “You cannot encourage your children by fighting each other!”

“Uh, Erza-san?” Wendy whispered, “I think Natsu-kun meant that they would work through it together.”

“Oh…” Erza uncharacteristically blushed, “Never mind then…”

The group laughed at the armoured mage’s over exaggerated fury before someone cleared their throat instantaneously gathering their attention. Master Makarov was standing on a high stool staring at his children with both pride and sadness. The joyous atmosphere that was once in the air disintegrated allowing a sense of foreboding to take its place.

“What’s wrong Master?” Lucy whispered.

Makarov sighed sadly before clearing his throat,

“When it was thought to be one child, I said that the power of the baby wouldn’t be discovered into Gray reaches full term, correct?” The mages nodded, “Well, since it is in actuality, two children the Magic Council will be able to sense them even sooner than as too be expected.”

“How much sooner?” Natsu demanded as his body tensed and stood protectively next to Gray.

“It could be at any time now depending on the growth of the twins.”

“How is this even possible?” Wendy asked.

“It’s ‘cause Gray has three potential powers residing within him.” Gajeel growled, “One child will have ice and one will have fire, which is inevitable; however, it is unsure if the core will separate or remain in one child.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Makarov nodded solemnly, “We’re going to have to involve Fried and get him to place barriers around both your apartment and the guild hall so that you cannot be detected. We will also have to ask him to seal the children’s powers when they are born.”

“NO!” Gray cried as he got out of the bed, “I won’t let you do that!”

“Gray, you don’t understand…”

The temperature in the room dropped drastically; everyone’s air could be seen in the form of mist. Walls of the infirmary were starting to ice over and the heartbeats on the heart monitor were going off the charts. Gray’s eyes were shadowed by his hair and the aura he was emitting clearly screamed back away; even Natsu was watching him warily, but he didn’t take any notice. He only had eyes for Makarov and anyone who wanted to harm his children.

“I will **NOT** let you seal their magic!” Gray roared, “How would you feel if someone were to seal your magic?!”

“It’s not the same…”

“THE HELL IT ISN’T THE SAME!” The room became even colder and a wind started to whip around, “Just because they’re too young to understand doesn’t mean that they won’t notice the emptiness inside them.”

The room was silent as they let the infuriated ice mage’s words sink in. Natsu was the first to approach the angered man; he laid his hand on the shaking shoulder and forced Gray to look into his eyes. He could see that the Core was trying to activate, but it was having a difficult time because of the pregnancy; all the energy was being used to sustain the babies. Natsu rested his head on Gray’s and pulled him into a tight hug. It seemed like Gray was going to resist at first, but slowly he wrapped his arms around the dragon slayer’s neck. As he accepted the contact, the wind died and the coldness that swallowed the room dissipated.

The ice mage sagged against the fire mage and his breathing evened out. With little to no effort, Natsu gathered the raven into his arms and placed him back on the bed gently. He carded his hand through the dark hair silently as he waited for the ice mage to completely succumb to his exhaustion. When he had done so, Natsu turned to Porlyusica, who was surprisingly, still there.

“Can you check them to see if they’re alright please?”

The woman nodded before approaching the ice mage herself. Natsu moved as to stay out of her way and changed his attention to Gramps and his friends. They all seemed shocked at what happened, but Lucy and Erza seemed to be taking it easier than the others were because they had seen him lose control like that before. Natsu folded his arms across his chest and waited for one of them to speak. As if on cue, Makarov sighed guiltily and came back into himself; he stared into Natsu’s onyx eyes sadly,

“I offer my apologies for aggravating him as I did Natsu.”

“It’s alright Gramps,” He whispered, “But I suggest that you don’t mention it to him again. I, however, see where you were going with this.”

“Natsu!” Erza warned, “You cannot agree to this behind Gray’s back.”

“Erza, I’ll do anything to protect my family,” The dragon slayer growled, “It’s not like I don’t understand what Gray is saying because I do, but, I’m willing to compromise with Gramps here.”

“And what would you suggest?” Makarov asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Fried will seal the children’s magic until the council no longer becomes interested in the significant growth of power that resides here.”

“But won’t the council become suspicious if great magic suddenly appears?” Gajeel wondered.

“That’s true, but it could easily be passed off as something else,” Natsu explained, “Another thing we could do is seal the Core of Magic instead of the magic itself.”

“Would it be possible to seal a magic is great as the Core?” The red haired mage asked.

Makarov contemplated it as he tapped his chin thoughtfully,

“It probably is possible, but it would take a great deal of magic; Fried will probably be exhausted. Would Gray be more willing to seal the Core?”

“Definitely,” Natsu smiled, “As long as they have the ability to perform magic it should be alright. He doesn’t want them to gain the Core that’s his biggest fear; he doesn’t want them to go through the same pain that he did.”

“Then it’s decided,” Makarov agreed, “Once Gray is informed of this new course of action, we will seal the Core of Magic in the child or children on the day of their birth.”

The tense air in the infirmary became a comforting one as soon as a course of action was decided.

FTFTFTFT

When Gray opened his eyes again he was extremely exhausted. He looked around the silent room and found that his friends and lover were sound asleep. Makarov and Porlyusica were no longer with them. He immediately felt guilty about the way that he yelled about the old man, but he didn’t mean to yell at him; he was just going on instinct to protect the children.

He sighed as he pushed himself into a sitting position so that his legs hung off the side of the bed. He ran his hands over his belly and smiled down at it. He was still worried that they were twins, but he knew that as long as he had Natsu, everything would work out in the end; just like it always does.

“How are you feeling?”

Gray jumped slightly at the sound of the voice, but relaxed when he recognized the soothing heat that sat down beside him. He leaned his head on his lover’s shoulder and supressed a yawn from escaping his lips,

“M’okay,” He whispered, “I’m just tired.”

Natsu ran his hand through Gray’s raven hair rhythmically, almost lulling him into sleep once more,

“I figured you would be after what you did.”

He tensed at the memory,

“I didn’t hurt the babies did I?”

The dragon slayer chuckled,

“Yeah, they’re fine; the hag was more worried about you actually. The babies are using your magic energy to stay strong and healthy; for protection. So, when you collapsed she was worried that they almost completely drained you which would have put all three of your lives in danger.”

“I’m sorry,” Gray mumbled guiltily, “I shouldn’t have lost control like that…”

“You were upset and scared,” Natsu soothed, “Unlike us, you’ve felt what it was like to have your magic completely drained from you for a long period of time; of course you wouldn’t want our children to feel the same pain you did.”

“What about Edolas?” He whispered, “You and Wendy felt it…”

“There’s a difference between a few days and three weeks Gray,” Natsu whispered back, “Yes, both Wendy and I experienced what you did, but we also weren’t beaten to a bloody pulp like you were.”

“You guys still suffered though…”

“And that’s why I agreed with you and told Makarov that I didn’t agree with sealing the twins’ magic; however, I do think Fried should do something…”

“Natsu…” Gray growled dangerously.

“What if we sealed the Core of Magic?”

Gray’s head snapped up and off Natsu’s shoulder so that they were now looking eye to eye. Gray searched his lover’s eyes briefly before slapping his hand to his forehead,

“Damn I’m an idiot! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

“Because you’re a hormonal pregnant ice bastard?” Natsu teased.

“Shut up flame head!” Gray punched him over the head.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. No Longer Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And It's Revenge of the Drama Llama!

The city of Era was bustling with excitable chatter and busy villagers going about their business. To the villagers, everything seemed normal; but if one were to look behind the walls of the government building they would find eight individuals standing in a secret chamber on a bright blue magic circle. The members of the Magic Council stood in their meeting room apprehensively as the moon started to rise over the land of Fiore. The chairman of the council, Gran Dorma, had brought the members together in order to discuss the strange power that seemed to be flowing through their land.

It has been months since the first fluctuation of power and there hadn’t been any signs of it since. The only thing they could seem to come up with was that it most likely had something to do with the bearer of the Core of Magic, Gray Fullbuster. The power fluctuations were fairly similar to the power of the Core, but the fluctuations were fairly unbalanced. Dorma scanned the room and met the eyes of every single member present.

“I have called all of you here today to discuss the extreme fluctuations of magic that have begun to flow through Fiore,” He began, “Does anyone have any insight into what may have caused this?”

“Actually,” One of the members stepped forward, “We heard something from a source in the town of Fiore that would be of great interest to you.”

“And what would that be?” Dorma growled impatiently as he stroked his long, white beard; “What has Fairy Tail done now?!”

The member smiled slyly,

“I believe the correct question would be, ‘what has the Core of Magic and the Salamander done’?”

Dorma scowled and glared at the member for his impudent dancing around. His patience was wearing thin; if the Core was involved the entire country of Fiore would be at stake.

“Speak up and tell us what you have learned Blitzkrieg!”

“It seems that our young Mr. Fullbuster and young Mr. Dragneel have surpassed the laws of physics and biology to produce offspring dear chairman.” Blitzkrieg smirked as he flicked his deep blue hair out of his eyes, “This started approximately six months ago, which would, I believe, coincide with the start of the power fluctuations.”

FTFTFTFT

Gray sagged on the couch in his and Natsu’s apartment with his feet propped up comfortably. A dusty old tome was resting comfortable on his chest as he rested his eyes from focusing on the small print for so long. His mind was overflowing with information about the Core of Magic even if most of it was things he already found out for himself. He thought it would be a good idea to get as much information as he could before his babies were born, but all he learned was that it was very unusual for males to inherit its power. (As if he didn’t feel enough like a freak already).

He sighed exhaustedly and glanced down at his very large stomach with intrigue. His baby bump was so big now that he needed to have support against his back so that he could sit up and see over it. He was just finishing his sixth month and he was definitely feeling it; it didn’t take long for him to realize that he wouldn’t be able to move around as much as he used to. His ankles ached while his back and head throbbed constantly; not only that, but he was eating like a person who was stuck on rock and starved for eighty days. In conclusion, Gray felt like the laziest, most incompetent, vulnerable liability in all of Fiore.

He wasn’t comfortable with how much he was relying on Natsu, but the two babies said different. He closed his eyes exhaustedly and massaged the bump lovingly. As soon as his hands started to move, he felt the twins kick against his stomach; the babies may be a pain in the ass some days, but moments like this always seemed to bring a smile to his face. He could feel himself drifting off when he heard the sound of a door opening. Gray’s blue eyes snapped open immediately and his sore muscles visibly tensed; he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position just in case he had to protect the babies from the silent intruder.

“Natsu?” He called out cautiously, “Is that you?”

Gray carefully and quietly pushed himself to his feet when silence responded to his call. He wrapped his arms around his stomach protectively and quickly backed out of the living room. He listened intently for any sounds or disturbances, but the house was eerily quiet. The raven continued to back up until his back hit a closet door. He hastily turned around, wrenched the door open, threw himself inside and shut the door as quietly as possible. He moved into the farthest corner he could get to and covered his body with the long coats that he used to wear when he went on missions.

The sound of footsteps reached the raven’s ears and he unconsciously held his breath as he heard the steps getting closer and closer to his hiding spot. By the sound of the steps in the house, there were probably around five or six of them; in his state, there was no way in hell that he would be able to fight them off… his magic was barely even responding to him now during this time of the pregnancy. Gray was about to reach out for Natsu through their link when the voices of the intruders distracted him.

“I could have sworn he was in here!” A deep voice shouted angrily, “He called out when we came in!”

“Calm down.” An authoritative voice grumbled, “He couldn’t have gotten very far; he’s six months along, it’s not like he’s inconspicuous.”

“Not to mention it would be nearly impossible to escape when the Secret Squad; has the apartment surrounded.” Another voice laughed.

 _The Secret Squad?!_ Gray thought as his heart started to beat rapidly in his chest, _That’s the Magic Council’s elite task force!_

“Keep searching!” A gruff voice ordered, “Gran Dorma will not be pleased if the Core of Magic and its unborn offspring aren’t apprehended!”

Gray’s breath caught in his throat and his lungs started to constrict painfully. He could feel the twins squirming, but his mind was already starting to drift off into unconsciousness. He tried to push air into his lungs, but it was like he no longer had the strength to do so. As his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his remaining breaths escaped him, he sent out a silent plea to his dragon slayer in hopes that he would be heard.

_Natsu…help us…they’re here…_

A low light engulfed the small closet and when it faded, the ice mage was nowhere to be found.

FTFTFTFT

Natsu paced around the guild hall relentlessly; for many, it seemed like a repeat of what happened three years ago. This time, however, he wasn’t worried, but was definitely very impatient; he wanted to get the second tome that Gray asked for and then get home to see his lover. After what felt like days, Makarov had finally returned to the main part of the guild with a large book in his hands. If it weren’t for the binds that held it together, it probably would have crumpled to dust years ago.

“Here’s the book Gray asked for,” Makarov smiled, “Why the sudden interest in the Core?”

“He just wants to know what to expect with the twins is all,” Natsu chuckled as he ran his hand through his hair, “And honestly I don’t blame him; someone has to know what to expect.”

“What about you Natsu?” Lucy teased, “Shouldn’t you know what to expect?”

“Nah, I’m more of the ‘winging it’ type, you know that.”

Murmurs of agreement went through the guild at his comment. Natsu smiled at the familiar voices of his family members and couldn’t wait for his ice mage to bring two more family members into the guild hall. He’s been very anxious as the months went by; he just wanted to know who they looked like and what their personalities would be. Most of all, he was waiting for the next appointment with Porlyusica so that they could finally learn the sex of the babies; he also couldn’t wait to finally in form the people they chose as godparents. They had to rethink their choices when they learned that there were two babies so they couldn’t tell them when they originally planned to. He was about to say goodbye to the guild and head home when Gray’s anxious and breathless voice echoed through their link.

_Natsu… help us… they’re here…_

_Gray?!_ He called in confusion, _Who’s there?!_

He waited for Gray’s reply, but all he heard was silence. His heart started to thud in his chest as panic and fear began to fill every cell in his body,

 _GRAY?!_ He shouted desperately, _WHO’S THERE?! WHAT’S GOING ON?!”_

“Gramps!” Natsu shouted out loud, “Something’s wrong with Gray!”

The noise that echoed around the guild silenced and solemnity quickly took its place. Erza, Lucy, Gajeel and Wendy approached the worried Natsu to figure out what was going on. Makarov’s relaxed expression abruptly disappeared and became an expression of worry. He walked towards the frantic dragon slayer and stopped in front of him,

“What’s wrong Natsu?”

As the pinkette opened his mouth to answer, the overwhelming scent of mint and cinnamon engulfed the guild hall. He subconsciously placed the tome he held on a nearby bench before walking to Gajeel and Wendy,

“Do you smell that?”

“Yeah,” Gajeel’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “Gray’s here…”

“Children!” Makarov called out, “Separate and search throughout the guild!”

Without further discussion, the guild members split into groups and scattered throughout the guild hall for the missing ice mage. Natsu led Erza and Lucy towards the back of the guild to search for Gray in the back area where they used to fight when the sound of Elfman’s booming voice echoed throughout the hall.

“Natsu! We found him!”

The dragon slayer turned on his heel and ran toward the sound of Elfman’s distinctive voice. The sounds of the hurried footsteps of the celestial and armoured mage echoed behind him. He easily found Elfman because the whole guild was gathered in front of one of the smallest closets in the entire hall.

“Is he alright?!”

“We don’t know…”

The guild members moved aside as Natsu walked through them and towards his lover. His breathing almost stopped completely when he saw the ice mage passed out and the last hints of pure white disappearing from his dark raven hair. He ran to the smaller man and pulled him into his arms; he hesitantly brought his hand up to the side of Gray’s neck, praying, that he would feel a familiar pulse thrumming under his fingers. He didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until he gasped out when he found the pulse easily; it was a little faster than normal, but his ice mage was still alive.

“Wendy,” He choked out, “Can you check him over?”

“Of course Natsu-kun!” She nodded immediately.

The small girl ran forward and placed her hands on Gray’s stomach; she closed her blue eyes firmly in concentration. A blue aura circulated around her palms as she focused and everyone’s breath was being held in anticipation. After a few moments of intense anxiety, Wendy’s eyes finally opened; a small smile of relief spread across her pale face.

“They’re all fine, but something worried them for some reason; something must have happened.”

Natsu glanced down at his lover and held him tighter than ever before. He buried his nose into the raven hair, inhaling his scent. He closed his eyes and thought back to the message that Gray sent him,

_They’re here…_

Natsu’s onyx eyes snapped open and he turned so that his gaze rested on the green haired runes mage who was standing beside Laxus,

“Fried, did the runes placed around our house react at all in the past half hour?”

The green haired man tapped his chin thoughtfully with his brows furrowed deeply,

“I thought I felt something shift earlier, but it was minor and it didn’t give a strong signature; so I assumed that it was nothing. Why do you ask Natsu?”

“The Magic Council…”

All heads turned to glance at the source of the voice. Gray’s eyes were still closed and he was clearly unconscious, but he answered the question for everyone. The mages looked at each other in distress when a villager ran full tilt into the guild, throwing the doors wide open. The mages jumped at the sudden sound and tensed at the unexpected entrance.

“What is it young man?” Makarov inquired, “Why the rush?”

“T-The Secret Squad!” The young man shouted, “They’re looking for your ice mage and they’re headed here right now!”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	6. Crisis Averted, Godparents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah Some Fluff ~

The guild hall was shocked into complete and utter silence. If someone were to listen close enough they would be able to detect the sounds of their rapid heartbeats and hectic breathing. The growing magic energy could be felt out on the streets because of the high stress and fear that continued to grow. The young boy who warned the infamous guild was still standing in the doorway breathing heavily, interested in seeing what the mages would do in order to protect their ice mage.

As a villager of Magnolia, he has come to greatly respect Fairy Tail and wanted to do anything in his power to ensure each guild members’ safety. He also heard of the recent hardships of the ice mage and fire dragon slayer over the years and he wished that they would find some sort of happiness; that’s why he wanted to help them.

“What’s your name child?” Master Makarov demanded.

“James sir,” He mumbled, “James Slifer.”

“James Slifer, how far away from the guild is the Secret Squad?”

“Last I heard, they were just leaving Natsu-sama’s and Gray-sama’s apartment. They are heading here right now in order to take Gray-sama away and I couldn’t let that happen to you guys.”

“How many of them are there?” The red headed mage, Erza Scarlet, demanded.

“T-There are probably five of them.” James stuttered nervously under her intense gaze, “T-The other villagers are trying to delay their arrival, but I don’t know how long they’ll be able to do so.”

A tall, silver haired woman he recognized as Mirajane Strauss stepped forward and kneeled in front of him with a kind smile on her face. Her bright blue eyes shone with thanks and a form of relief; she ruffled James’ sandy blonde hair affectionately causing his tanned cheeks to turn bright red.

“Thank you for your bravery James,” She whispered, “You’ve given us the time to keep him safe and that means a lot to us.”

“Yes!” Elfman boomed loudly, “Way to be a man!”

“W-What are you going to do?!” James asked fearfully, “They’re really strong!”

“We’re Fairy Tail,” A voice he has grown to admire said from within the crowd, “We’ll manage to defeat them without breaking a sweat.”

The guild members parted and revealed the renowned dragon slayer that James had grown to look up to as some sort of role model. He wanted to be just like Natsu Dragneel one day; a man who never abandoned his friends and family no matter what circumstances had befallen them. In the dragon slayer’s arms was no other than his second role model, Gray Fullbuster; the strength and will the man possessed was something that James also wanted to have when he was older. Not much of Gray’s ordeals were revealed, but he knew enough that he understood that it would take great strength to find the will to live like he had. James smiled at the two mages and felt his confidence begin to rise; they were going to be just fine.

FTFTFTFT

The front doors of the guild burst open as five strangers entered the home of the Fairy Tail mages. The voices that once filled the hall silenced and they all stopped what they were doing so their full attention was on the strangers. The sound of their heavy footsteps echoed as they walked on the wooden floors as they moved freely to stand in the center of the room. They were all wearing black clothing that did not inhibit any stealth that they may have to use. The magic energy they held flowed through the guild like a wave of water, but none of the Fairy Tail mages were fazed by it; they have dealt with worse in the past. A man with raven hair stepped forward; his green eyes flickering around the guild as if he was searching for someone; which everyone knew he was.

“Fairy Tail mages!” His gruff voice bellowed, “Hand over Gray Fullbuster immediately for treason against the Magic Council of Fiore.”

“What is your name young man?!” Makarov spat dangerously, “How dare you accuse one of my children of such nonsense!”

“Sellon Gerard, head of the Secret Annihilation Squad of Fiore.” He smirked, “And it is not an accusation if it is true; his existence is threatening the lives of everyone in this fine country therefore he must be detained… along with his offspring, the children of Natsu Dragneel.”

“What the HELL are you going on about?!”

Everyone turned to face the raven haired mage sitting on a stool next to the bar. His arms were crossed over his bare chest and his mismatched blue eyes were glaring darkly at the five mages standing in the middle of the guild. A permanent scowl was etched on his face and his eyebrow was twitching in frustration. He slammed his drink down on the table and walked towards the mages; the air in the hall cooling down significantly.

“Are you five insane?!” He roared as his cheeks turned red in embarrassment, “I’m a man! I can’t get pregnant you assholes!”

The man’s, now known as Sellon, mouth dropped open comically. He couldn’t deny it, but standing before him was a muscled, lean and not pregnant, young adult. Snickers traveled through the guild at the dumbfounded looks on the so-called Secret Squad. Sellon’s vibrant green eyes scanned through the guild again and a smirk spread across his lips.

“If that’s true where is your lover Natsu Dragneel?” He smirked, “It is known that he never leaves your side; that is of course if you’re truly Gray Fullbuster.”

The four mages led by Sellon, approached the ice mage with smirks of victory plastered on their face until the sound of a flushing toilet reached their ears. They stopped moving and shifted their attention to the door that creaked open from the far side of the guild. The missing pink haired dragon slayer entered the room with a relieved smile spread across his tanned face. He froze in his steps when he saw the five strange mages in the guild hall approaching Gray. A low growl escaped his throat as he stomped towards the bastards who were trying to take his ice mage away. He wrapped his arm protectively around the ice mage’s slim waist and glared at Sellon darkly.

“Who the hell are you and what do you think you are doing?!”

Sellon cringed and took a step back before retaining his previous posture. He glanced from Natsu to Gray and back again before turning on his heel. The other four mages followed him as he walked toward the guild doors,

“We apologize for our rude entrance and the false accusations; everything seems to be in order so we’ll take our leave.” He mumbled, “But be warned, if the Core of Magic reveals itself to be a problem in the near future, we will not hesitate to get rid of the problem.”

“You won’t have to worry,” Gray’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “The Magic Council’s concern is not needed; I can handle this power just fine.”

Sellon waved his words off and in a flash of magic, all five strangers were gone.

FTFTFTFT

The Fairy Tail guild members remained quiet for a few moments as the last of the transportation magic dissipated into the air before their loud voices erupted into an uproar. Natsu unwrapped his arm from around ‘Gray’s’ waist and smiled at the mage standing beside him. ‘Gray’ shimmered with golden light until ‘his’ form was replaced with that of Lucy’s celestial spirit Gemini.

“Thank you so much Gemini!” Natsu forcefully pulled her into a hug, “We couldn’t have pulled it off without you!”

Gemini awkwardly patted Natsu’s back,

“No problem Natsu, it was the least I could do for you two.”

Another flash of golden light surrounded her as she teleported herself into the spirit world. Natsu looked at his family members and they were all celebrating with tears of relief in the corner of their eyes. With one last glance at them, he left the main floor of the hall and ran toward the stairs that led to the second floor. He threw open the door of the infirmary and found his ‘guards’ standing next to the unconscious ice mage. Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, and James smiled at the dragon slayer as he walked in breathless.

“It sounds like the plan worked!” Lucy clapped her hands together happily.

Natsu smiled and grabbed Lucy’s hands in his own,

“I already said this to Gemini, but I have to say this to you too. Thank you Lucy, without you we wouldn’t have been able to prevent a full out war.”

A blush spread across her cheeks,

“N-No problem Natsu; I would do anything for you guys, you know that.”

Natsu’s smile broadened and he turned to the young teen who stood beside Gray’s head staring down at the ice mage sadly. The pinkette walked to the young boy and kneeled down in front of him. He placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder which made the boy’s golden eyes stare up at him in awe.

“Your name was James, right?”

James nodded in embarrassment, refusing to meet Natsu’s eyes. Natsu laughed at the boy’s antics before pulling him into a tight hug. The boy tensed at the unexpected heat of the dragon slayer, but he hugged him back nonetheless. James felt warm tears fall on his shoulder, so he held the pinkette even tighter.

“I didn’t get a chance to thank you either,” Natsu smiled, “You’re a brave person to come to us like you did. We would’ve lost Gray without your help, and so I owe you both our lives for doing so.”

“No Natsu-sama,” James declined, “You and your guild saved Fiore more times than even the Magic Council can count; it’s about time that the town of Magnolia paid you back.”

Natsu pulled away from the teen and held onto his ice mage’s cold hand,

“Well James, I still want to thank you and I know that Gray would too. In three years, come to the guild hall again; I sense magic in you and by then it should surface.”

“B-But, I never had magic before!” James denied, his golden eyes wide, “My family has no magic at all!”

The pinkette simply smiled down at the resting ice mage,

“It’s his way of saying thank you.”

James still watched the dragon slayer with a confused look on his face, but he decided that he would be able to wait three years for his answer. He bowed to each of the adults in the room before turning on his heel and running out of the guild and back home to his older brother. Even though he didn’t completely understand the mages of Fairy Tail, he knew that one day they would become his family too.

FTFTFTFT

The sun was beginning to set over the town of Magnolia and the humid, late summer day was beginning to turn into a comfortingly cool night. Gray’s blue eyes opened slowly; his eyes taking time to adjust to his surroundings. His heart started to thud in his chest when he couldn’t figure out where he was or how he got there. He wrapped his arms around his bump protectively and sat up as quickly as he could, searching for his captors.

“Gray, it’s okay, you’re safe.”

The ice mage’s tense shoulders relaxed when the soothing voice blanketed over him like a security blanket. The warm arms wrapped around his shaking form and he didn’t even realize that he was crying until he buried his wet face in the crook of his dragon slayer’s neck. With one arm still secured around the twins, he let his other arm wrap tightly around Natsu holding him as tight as he could manage. His lover rubbed rhythmic circles into the small of his back until his crying subsided into nearly silent sniffles.

“I’m sorry…” He murmured.

“Don’t apologize, everything worked out,” Natsu whispered, “You kept them safe.”

“N-Natsu,” Gray stuttered, “How did I get here?”

The dragon slayer sighed,

“I was going to ask you the same question.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, after you sent me the telepathic message, the scent of the twins suddenly engulfed the guild hall. Everyone immediately went looking for you; it was Elfman who found you. When I made it over there, you were sitting in the closet and your hair had traces of white in it…”

“T-The Core?” Gray furrowed his eyebrows, “I shouldn’t be able to use it at all…”

“We thought that too, but then Makarov explained a theory to us after you were safe.” Natsu explained, “You wanted to protect the babies from the Secret Squad and the babies wanted to protect you; that’s why the Core activated and transported all three of you here.”

“Oh…” Gray said thoughtfully, “I guess that makes sense; when we were hiding, they became really restless… they were probably reacting to my fear.”

“You don’t need to worry about them for a while,” Natsu whispered into the raven hair under his nose, “We tricked them into thinking you’re not pregnant by using Gemini.”

Gray nodded in understanding before letting his eyes close for a moment. A memory of golden eyes suddenly came to his mind’s eye causing his eyes to open once more. He lifted his head out of the crook of Natsu’s neck so they were looking at each other,

“What about the boy?”

“The boy?” Natsu raised a brow in confusion, “You mean James? How do you know about him?”

“I don’t know really, it was almost like a dream.” Gray murmured as he pressed his forehead against Natsu’s, “I hope he likes his gift.”

The pinkette smiled knowingly,

“He will, I’m sure of it.”

Natsu leaned forward and pressed his lips lovingly on Gray’s creating electricity on contact. The raven felt the pinkette’s warm tongue run along his bottom lip sending a shiver down his spine. Gray opened his mouth willingly allowing his lover’s tongue to explore his mouth; the heat once again clashed with the cold. He buried his hands into the pinkette’s hair as his rough tongue ran over the palette of his mouth. Natsu was about lay the ice mage down on the bed when the babies decided at that very moment to kick roughly. Gray laughed as he and Natsu were forced to separate; Natsu was pouting, but laughter could be seen dancing in his onyx eyes.

“Well clearly, our little boys don’t want us to have fun.” Gray teased.

“Boys?!” Natsu shouted, “What makes you think they’re boys?!”

“Instinct.” Gray smirked as he placed a kiss on the corner of Natsu’s jaw.

Natsu leaned in to kiss his lover again when the door to the infirmary opened to reveal their four friends. Erza actually ran in and pulled Gray into a tight hug; pain immediately laced through his skull at the rough contact with her armour.

“Gray, I’m so happy that you’re well!”

The ice mage pushed himself out of his childhood friend’s arms and smiled,

“I don’t know if I will be after the headache you just gave me.”

Erza’s dark eyes widened before she punched his shoulder lightly,

“Whatever, I’m just happy you’re safe.”

“I know,” Gray hugged her himself, “That’s why you’re going to be my youngest baby’s godmother.”

Everyone in the room, except for Natsu who just smirked, froze. Erza’s mouth dropped opened almost comically and her big brown eyes flooded with tears. She dropped to her knees and looked up at Gray pleadingly. Gray simply smiled and nodded his head before she shakily requipped out of her armour. She lifted a pale hand so that it could rest on Gray’s swollen stomach.

“Hello baby 2,” She laughed, “This is Aunty Erza; be easy on your Papa and your Daddy alright? And don’t destroy the guild hall too much when your older; I don’t want to punish you.”

The group sweatdropped at her words, but they couldn’t help but smile at the toughest mage in Fairy Tail. Her smile broadened when she felt the babies move under her touch; she was almost bubbling with excitement. After a few more moments she stepped away and pulled Natsu into a hug as well,

“Thank you so much boys; this means the world to me.”

Natsu laughed,

“Well it’s not like we’re going to only trust Gajeel with the youngest; he’ll need a little help.”

“M-Me?!” Gajeel stuttered for the first time in his life, “A-Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Natsu smirked, “There’s no one else that we would choose to keep baby 2 safe if we weren’t around.”

The iron dragon slayer’s red eyes softened and he had to place his arm over his eyes to hide his tears. Gray pushed himself off the bed with some help from Natsu and slowly made his way over to the older raven haired man. He forcefully grabbed Gajeel’s hand and placed it on his stomach; the iron dragon slayer tried to remove his hand, but stopped as he felt the babies moving under his touch.

“I’ll keep it safe,” He promised, “Trust me.”

“I know, that’s why we chose you.” Gray smiled.

Natsu led Gray to the silent and tearful celestial mage standing next to Wendy. The blonde’s eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. Both Gray and Natsu held onto her hands and they pulled her into a hug. She hugged them back just as tight before they separated.

“Lucy, can you call out Loke?” Gray asked.

Lucy raised her blonde eyebrow, but summoned Loke nonetheless. In a flash of golden light, Loke stood before them looking the same as ever with his mane-like hair, pressed suit and blue shades. He glanced around the room in confusion looking for a battle, but he found none. His hazel eyes finally rested on Gray and Natsu.

“What’s going on?” He inquired, “Is something wrong.”

“No, not really,” Gray shrugged, “I just thought I should tell you and Lucy that you’re baby 1’s godparents.”

“Oh if that’s all…” Loke’s eyes popped open, “Wait what?!”

“Didn’t you hear him you perverted Lion,” Natsu teased as he punched Loke’s shoulder, “You’re a godfather.”

“Why me?!”

“Because we trust you,” Gray laughed, “You can keep Lucy safe enough and you’ve helped me more times than I can count.”

“Plus, you and Lucy are going to get married anyway so it was the best choice.” Natsu added bluntly.

Lucy’s cheeks immediately burned crimson and she punched Natsu over the head with her fist,

“IDIOT!”

Gray laughed along with everyone else, but quickly turned his head to Wendy, worried that they hurt her feelings. He was relieved to see that she still had a bright smile on her face; their eyes connected and he could see that she had already named herself as an aunty. Wendy walked up to him and placed her hands on his stomach. As Gray took in the laughter and the love in the room he knew that he and Natsu had made the right choices.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	7. It's Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I BET YOU CAN GUESS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN ;)

The rising sun shone through the open window for one of the last times that season. The air outside was starting to chill and the leaves on the trees were slowly changing from green and into colours of gold and brown. Natsu opened his tired eyes lazily and tried to shield himself from the imposing bright light. He rolled over onto his side and yawned in exhaustion; he wiped the sleep that resided in his eyes before letting his gaze fall on the sleeping form of his love.

His partner’s raven hair was tousled and he was lying comfortingly on his back, with his head resting on Natsu’s pillow. One of his arms was pillowed behind his head while the other rested on his stomach. The pinkette smiled softly before resting one of his own hands on the still growing bump. Gray shifted under his touch, but his blue eyes still remained closed and his smooth alabaster forehead remained un-furrowed. He sat up and pressed his lips to the bump causing the babies to shift under his warmth.

“Natsu?” Gray asked, his voice still thick with sleep, “Why’d you have to wake ‘em up? They were actually letting me sleep for once.”

“Sorry love,” He kissed his forehead apologetically before lying down once more, “Just couldn’t resist.”

A small, tired smile spread across the raven’s lips,

“I figured as much flame brain; you never were one for patience.”

“You’re preaching to the choir ice block.” The dragon slayer teased as he carded his hand through the soft raven hair.

“Mmm, I know.” Gray sighed in agreement.

The lovers just laid there in bed basking in each other’s comforting presence for as long as they could. The noises of the villagers were growing as the morning went on, but they didn’t want to move from their spots. For the first time in a long time, they were able to be with each other without any distractions. No one was after the Core, Natsu wasn’t on a mission, their friends hadn’t burst down their door and Gray and the twins were happy; they hadn’t been this relaxed in what felt like centuries. Everything seemed perfect until he felt Gray’s form shaking slightly against his own.

“Gray?” He sat up again, “What’s wr…”

Natsu felt his own heart break when he saw the fresh tear tracks running down his ice mage’s cheeks. The dragon slayer gathered his lover in his arms and held him close to his chest, rocking him back and forth soothingly. He cupped Gray’s cheeks in his hands and smoothed the tears away with the pads of his thumbs,

“Why are you crying love?” He whispered.

“I-I don’t know,” The ice mage laughed, “I’m pathetic.”

“You’re far from pathetic you ice bastard,” Natsu laughed, “Sometimes I wonder if you cry enough.”

“Really?” Gray sniffled, “It seems like that’s all I do.”

The dragon slayer ran his hand through the raven’s hair once again and placed another kiss on the top of his head. Gray wrapped his arms around the pinkette’s neck and held onto his rock as tightly as he could; he never wanted to let go.

“Really,” Natsu whispered, “Until three years ago, the only time I have ever seen you cry was on Galuna Island. Maybe your emotions are just haywire from being held in for so long, you know?”

“Or I’m a ‘pregnant hormonal ice bastard’…” Gray teased his lover.

Natsu laughed,

“That’s a possibility too.”

The two mages sat in silence for a few moments until Gray sighed sadly. He untangled his arms and pulled away from Natsu so that their noses were touching. Natsu could feel that his lover wanted to tell him something important, but he didn’t know what it could be and that thought terrified him. The dragon slayer held onto his mate even tighter and rubbed their noses together softly,

“Gray, tell me what’s bothering you.”

The ice mage’s body tensed slightly and his eyes filled with more tears, but this time Natsu could tell that his love was crying for his sake and he had no idea why. The babies shifted in Gray’s stomach again and due to their close proximity, Natsu felt them kicking and punching against his own abdomen.

“You know how I read those books on the Core of Magic?” Natsu nodded to show he was listening, “According to one the books, when the Core gives birth to children…”

“Gray?”

“They rarely survive!” The ice mage cried out, “Most of them die during childbirth!”

Every cell in Natsu’s body froze as the words left the raven’s mouth. A strange buzzing sounded in his ears and he felt the world swimming around him. He clung onto the man in his arms and held him as tightly as he could. He could feel the smaller body shaking in his embrace, but he couldn’t find the words to comfort him; his mind had drawn a complete blank. He could feel the fire in his soul slowly dying as Gray’s words echoed in his mind like the left over vibrations of a drum.

“You’ll live…” He whispered.

“N-Natsu…” Gray choked.

“You’ll live love, I know you will.” He whispered again, his voice cracking slightly, “You’re strong enough to do this.”

“But the books…”

“I don’t give a damn about what the books say.” Natsu growled, “You survived Deliora, you survived Yakumo, you survived Shadowsky and you survived Lyon’s passing; you can live through this too Gray, I know you can. You’ll get the chance to see our sons grow and you’ll be there to see them find love and go on missions! I refuse to let you die, do you understand me?!”

Through the tears running down his cheeks, a smile reappeared on Gray’s shell pink lips. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against those of his determined dragon slayer. Natsu kissed his lover back desperately and took the smaller man’s breath away. When they separated, Natsu could see that a new fire had been ignited in his lover’s blue eyes.

“I love you so much.” Gray whispered against his lover’s lips.

“And I love you yuki-hime.”

Gray stared at his love wide eyed before his eyebrow started to twitch in annoyance. He raised his fist and lightly punched his mate over the head,

“You call me that again and I’ll personally turn you into an ice cube.”

“Yeah, right.” Natsu smirked before placing his lips on his lover’s once more.

FTFTFTFT

The last few months seemed to pass in a blur for Natsu and Gray. The leaves quickly fell from the limbs on the trees and the first snowfall occurred a couple days later. The ground was coated with a thin layer of snow and every day, more and more people were digging out their parkas, scarves, hats and mitts. However, the only thing on the lovers’ minds was preparing their house for the twins that were due to arrive at any time. Over the course of the months, they have bought a large crib, a drawer full of baby clothes, a truck load of toys and enough blankets for an overflowing orphanage. Gray was becoming more and more anxious as the days went on, but he knew that everything would work out one way or another; after all, how could he even start to think negatively with Natsu’s abundance of optimism clinging onto him wherever he went. He was still terrified over whether or not he would survive the pregnancy, but he was more worried about what Natsu would do if he were to die.

Gray was sitting in front of his older brother’s grave thinking about the fear that had been plaguing him for some time now. Natsu would probably disagree with him being out and about at this time, but Gray just couldn’t sit in the house anymore and what his lover didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Gray massaged his bump gently as he closed his eyes in solemn remembrance; he could clearly imagine what Natsu had told him almost four years ago in the very spot he was sitting.

_“I will continue to love you in life, death, afterlife and beyond; the only reason loving you would bring me to my death would be if I was following you after yours.”_

Remembering that promise sent chills down his spine in both a good and bad way. He was happy that he had someone who has loved him as much as Natsu has, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding as well. If he didn’t survive, would the dragon slayer give up and join him as well? Most of him believed that Natsu wouldn’t give his life up for him; Gray had faith that Natsu would live for his friends and for the twins. However, there was that small part of him that believed that his love would lose a part of himself and die along with him; even if it is a metaphorical sense.

“I wish you were here Lyon,” Gray muttered sadly, “You would know exactly what to do.”

As if Lyon was answering him, a cold wind ran through his hair comfortingly. Gray closed his eyes and imagined that his older brother was sitting by his side, telling him that everything was alright; that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. He was about to get up and place the flowers he brought over to the tomb when an uncomfortable pain swept through him. He shook it off as the twins just kicking him until the pain started to get excruciating. Gray wrapped his arms around his eight month old stomach and grimaced as another sharp pain laced through it. His eyes widened when he realized what was going on.

“Shit…” Gray gasped as another pain rocked through his body.

 _Uh… Natsu?_ Gray called out through there link.

_What’s up?_

_There’s a slight situation…_

Natsu was silent for a moment before he spoke again,

_Is something wrong? Are you okay?_

_Yeah…but the babies are coming…_

_…_

_Natsu?_

_…_

_Earthland to Natsu?!_

_…_

_Goddamnit flame bastard! Don’t freeze now! I’m sitting in the middle of the fucking cemetery and I don’t think I’ll be able to get to the guild on my own!_

_WHAT?!_

Gray winced at the telepathic outburst just as an even sharper pain shot through his abdomen. He took deep breaths and massaged his stomach at the same time trying to calm them down. Suddenly he felt a wind whip around him and the smell of a campfire entered his nose. The air around him became infinitely colder and the snow falling from the sky became more like sleet. The sound of electricity crackled around him and the smell of metal engulfed his surroundings. He looked where he was sitting and he saw that a magic circle had formed beneath him.

Before he could question what was going on, Lyon’s stone was no longer in front of him. Instead he was falling through the air and landed with a thud on someone. If he thought he was in pain a moment ago, he was in pain now. He could feel something was wrong with the babies, but he was too disoriented to think clearly.

“GRAY?!”

He glanced around and noticed that he was sitting in the middle of the guild hall, nearly in tears from the agony he was feeling and sitting on top of his dragon slayer.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	8. The Core Selects Its Host

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN

Natsu was gazing at the request board with a lack of interest for the first time in his fourteen years of being in the Fairy Tail guild. His mind was as far away from a mission as it could possibly get, but Gray _insisted_ that they needed money; not that Gray wasn’t right, but he would much rather be with the raven in their home. He didn’t like leaving his ice mage alone since the babies were getting closer and closer to their due date, but he couldn’t do much of anything if he was basically tossed on his ass out the door.

Due to the lack of sleep that he was getting, his lover had started to get extremely irritable and was beginning to get as scary as Erza in her demon mode; and that was ‘piss your pants’ scary! The dragon slayer sighed in defeat and turned away from the request board to go sit at the ‘Team Natsu’ table that rested in the middle of the guild hall. As he sat on the wooden bench, he slumped forward with a groan immediately burying his face in his arms. He could feel people’s eyes boring into his back with sympathy, but he honestly didn’t need it.

“Hey Natsu!” A familiar voice shouted over to him.

His head snapped up and he saw Lucy and Erza approaching their table carrying shopping bags. (Well Lucy was carrying shopping bags, Erza was carrying a shit ton of dessert boxes). He smiled at his approaching nakama and waited for them to join him.

Ever since the girls learned that they were godparents to his sons, let’s just say they started going overboard. Most of the baby clothes residing in their house were from them and that was saying something since the clothes took up an entire dresser. (Did he mention that the dresser had six drawers)? They sat across from him with bright smiles on their faces; but Natsu was willing to bet that Erza’s smile was because of the strawberry cake that now lay before her.

“Hey guys, how are you two?”

“Can’t complain really; we’re just really excited for the babies to come!” Lucy practically burst with excitement.

The pinkette laughed at his friend’s over-happiness, but he couldn’t help but disagree with her. Don’t get him wrong, he was more than excited to see his sons; but he was worried about what would happen to Gray. He didn’t want to lose his ice mage and now he knew that it was a high possibility. After he learned that his lover may not survive the birth, he decided to actually crack open the old tomes himself to figure out if there was a way to prevent it from happening; let’s just say that the books almost didn’t make it out alive.

Gray wasn’t lying when he said that he might die during childbirth, in fact, it was almost inevitable. According to the tomes, after the birth of the child, the Core turns on its host and destroys them from the inside out; this is because its new host was the newborn baby. However, bearing twins was also rare when dealing with the Core; so with the added power of Natsu’s dragon slayer magic in the mix, the pinkette is praying that Gray would be able to pull through.

“Natsu!”

The dragon slayer was jerked out of his thoughts by the persistent voice of the blonde sitting in front of him. The blonde was glaring at him with a mix of annoyance and worry; which was an interesting combination to say the least. He glanced over at the red head sitting before him and he noticed that she was watching him too. Clearly they had been trying to get his attention for a while now… talk about awkward…

“Sorry,” He laughed as he ran his hand through his pink hair, “Got a little distracted.”

“I was asking why you were here instead of at home with Gray.” Lucy reiterated.

“Isn’t it obvious,” Gajeel taunted from his seat by the bar, “He got kicked out of the house.”

A dark aura started to flood the guild; Natsu nervously turned his gaze from the iron dragon slayer and focused on the trembling requip mage. The piece of strawberry cake that was sitting peacefully at the end of her fork fell in slow motion and landed with a plop back in the box. Natsu gulped nervously and tried to shrink back from the menacing aura that seemed to want to draw him into an agonizing hell.

“What. Did. You. DO?!” Erza growled like a deranged bear as she called upon one of her many swords.

“Erza, it’s not what you think.” Natsu swallowed thickly, “He sent me here so I could go on a mission and get money.”

The ferocious Titania opened her mouth to threaten the dragon slayer when Gray’s voice flashed through his mind easily distracting him,

_Uh… Natsu?_

His whole demeanor changed, quickly alerting Titania and the rest of the guild that he was talking to his ice mage,

_What’s up?_

_There’s a slight situation…_

Natsu’s heart started to pound in his ears as the worst case scenarios started to plague his mind. His first thought was that the Magic Council came back and then the next was that Gray hurt himself. His fears kept getting worse and worse as his mind continued to wander.

_Is something wrong? Are you okay?_

_Yeah…_ Natsu sighed in relief, _But the babies are coming…_

The pinkette blinked a couple times before his eyes nearly popped right out of his head; he moved to jump out of his seat, but his legs gave out causing him to fall flat on his ass. His chest was heaving as anxiety and excitement started to claw relentlessly at his insides. His body was shaking from the adrenaline that was now coursing through his body. He didn’t know what to do… should he run home? Should he gather everyone and run full tilt to his apartment? Would they make it to the apartment on time?! What if something happens and he doesn’t get there on time?!

_Goddamnit flame bastard! Don’t freeze now! I’m sitting in the middle of the fucking cemetery and I don’t think I’ll be able to get to the guild on my own!_

Middle of the cemetery…

_WHAT?!_

Clearly he had also said the last part out loud as well because the entire guild was staring at him in confusion. He jumped to his feet and started to run toward the guild doors when Erza’s hand grabbed tightly onto his shoulder, preventing him from moving even an inch.

“Erza,” He growled, “Let. Go.”

The guild flinched at his tone, but no one was more surprised than Erza herself,

“What’s going on Natsu?!”

“The babies are coming and Gray’s in the middle of a fucking cemetery when he should’ve been at home so the runes aren’t concealing the overflowing magic so the Magic Council is going to come and there will be nothing we can do about it cause the babies are coming and we’ll be distracted because the babies are coming.” Natsu said in a single breath, “Did I mention that the babies are coming?!”

The guild froze in shock from the outburst, but was more shocked when a body fell from the ceiling and landed on the dragon slayer sending them both to the ground. Natsu shook his head to clear the disorientation when he saw a very familiar face looking around frantically with teary eyes,

“GRAY?!”

FTFTFTFT

Pain continued to rock him in waves as Natsu gathered him into his arms and ran upstairs to the second floor infirmary. The raven thought that he could hear the sounds of Wendy, Gajeel, Lucy, Erza and Makarov running behind them, but he wasn’t entirely sure if that was his imagination or not. Gray could barely keep track of what was going on, but he did know that something was terribly wrong with his babies and he was terrified beyond belief. He clutched onto Natsu’s scarf tightly to try and get his attention,

“N-Natsu,” He rasped weakly, “S-Something’s wrong!”

“Talk to me Gray,” Natsu whispered urgently as he all but kicked open the infirmary door, “What’s wrong?”

“T-The twins; something’s wrong with them I can feel it!”

“Shit…” Natsu muttered under his breath as he laid the ice mage on the bed, “Wendy, Gray says something’s wrong.”

The ice mage hazily watched as the small blue haired girl ran over and placed her hands on the swollen abdomen. Gray grimaced as another pain shot through him; it felt like he was going to die. He could feel Natsu’s warm hand brushing his raven hair away from his sweat covered forehead, while the other was holding his hand tightly. The lovers waited as patiently as they could for Wendy’s diagnosis, but the fear was eating them alive.

“Wendy what’s going on?” Gajeel’s gruff voice demanded.

“T-The Core,” Wendy whispered brokenly, “The Core is trying to reject them.”

“W-What?” Gray whispered exhaustedly, “What does that mean?!”

“It means that the Core doesn’t believe their strong enough so it’s trying to get rid of them.” Porlyusica’s voice entered the room as she rushed towards Gray.

“NO!” Gray cried out, “NO!”

“Natsu calm him down NOW!” Porlyusica order stiffly, “Everybody else OUT.”

Gray could hear the sound of running footsteps, but he couldn’t figure out where they were going. The only thing going through his mind was that his babies were dying and it was his fault. Another pain coursed through him, but now he wondered if it was his pain or the twins. His breathing was starting to get frantic, but he couldn’t do anything to calm him down. He was about to pass out when something burned in his hand bringing his thoughts back to the real world. Natsu was leaning over him with his forehead pressed against his and his hand holding onto him tightly. He hadn’t realized it, but his shirt was rolled up and Porlyusica was working diligently on him.

“N-Natsu?” Tears rolled down his enflamed cheeks.

“They’re going to be okay,” He whispered, “They’re going to be healthy; nothing is going to happen to them. But, you need to calm down love, do you understand?”

“I don’t want them to die,” He sobbed, “Why does this happen to us?!”

“Calm down Gray, please.” Natsu pleaded, “At this rate you’re going to have a heart attack.”

“I’m so scared.” Gray whispered.

“I know, I am too.” A tear cascaded down the pinkette’s tanned cheek.

Suddenly, a sharp cry broke through their dome of sadness. Natsu’s head jerked up at the sound and a relieved smile spread across his face and mingled with the tears. Not that long after, another cry followed the first. Like a weight was lifted off his heart, Gray’s mind and body relaxed. He didn’t know how exhausted he was until that moment. He could feel Wendy’s recognizable healing magic on his abdomen, but he couldn’t remember when she had come back in. He turned his head so he could try and see the babies, but the forms of Makarov and Porlyusica blocked them from view.

“Natsu,” His voice cracked painfully, “What do they look like?”

“They’re beautiful,” He whispered, “One of them looks exactly like you and the other looks like me. They’re tanned like me, but they definitely have your eyes; I can tell even when their closed. The younger one has raven hair laced with silver, while the older has pink hair laced with silver; I think the Core accepted them after all.”

Gray smiled in relief and imagined his son’s behind his closed lids. He felt so tired that he could simply slip away right there; he felt so weak. He could hear frantic voice above him, but he couldn’t understand what they were trying to say. He felt his body relax more and when he was on the brink of sleep he felt a warm flame drawing him back.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	9. A Little Divine Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Gray Gets A Little Guidance from the Other Side

After the first time, Natsu had never wanted to be in this position ever again; it was painful enough the last time it happened. He was once again sitting the infirmary with the love of his life lying comatose in the bed beside him. It was a miracle that Gray had even survived the birth; it was choice between the twins and the ice mage… the Core chose the twins. However, he was able to tap into the fading flame element in the dying Core and was able to bring Gray from the brink of death; surprisingly, the Core still remained with the ice mage even now. It has been two weeks since that day and his mate has not had moved an inch since then.

Natsu exhaustedly pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the twin cribs at the end of Gray’s bed. He gazed through the glass at his two sleeping sons; he wasn’t lying when he said they were the most beautiful things that he has ever seen. He wanted so desperately to touch them and hold them, but he didn’t want to risk waking them up. The moment that Gray had fallen asleep, the twins became restless and distressed; it was as if they knew something was wrong. Natsu didn’t even have the guts to name his sons yet; it was something that he wanted to experience with Gray and it wouldn’t be the same if he didn’t.

He continued to watch his sons sleep even as the door of the infirmary opened behind him. A hand clasped his shoulder tightly as a form of comfort, but he barely registered its presence. He thought his eyes were dry of tears, but he proved himself wrong when he felt the familiar droplets trail down his cheeks. Fear was the only thing that was consuming him; he now knew how Gray felt when he knew that he was going to lose Lyon or himself to the reincarnation of Deliora.

“He’s going to wake up.”

“I know.” The dragon slayer’s voice cracked as he turned to the red haired mage standing behind him.

Erza looked up at him with tear stained cheeks as she stood by his side. She clasped her hand in his and pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged her like she was his only lifeline in a world that was crumbling around him. She rubbed her hand up and down his back in a form of comfort and its rhythm almost sent him into a sleep that his body so desperately wanted. But, he was afraid that if he were to close his eyes, Gray would forever disappear; never to be reached again.

“I’m so scared,” He whispered into her shoulder, “I haven’t been so scared in my life.”

“Don’t give up Natsu, I know he won’t.” She whispered back, “He’s fighting to get back to you; I know it.”

“But what if he isn’t?” The dragon slayer choked.

“Then Lyon will make sure he gets his ass back here and you know it.”

Natsu chuckled at that and he knew that Erza was absolutely right; there was no way in hell that Lyon was going to let Gray roll over and die. He stepped out of Erza’s embrace and glanced back down at the babies in the cribs. He smiled when he saw two pairs of identical deep blue eyes staring up at him. He lifted the glass off the cribs and leaned in to pick up his charges.

He handed the raven haired boy to Erza and then he held the pinkette in his arms. He cradled the pink haired boy gently and smiled fondly as the tough as nails requip mage cooed at the youngest in her soft arms. He walked over to Gray’s bedside once more and sat on the stool that he had claimed as his own. Erza had followed him and stood beside him patiently; also looking at the other man that she had called her best friend. She gently handed the young raven to Natsu so that he could hold both the twins at the same time.

“Natsu, you should try to get some sleep.”

“I will when he wakes up,” He promised, “I just need to know he is alright.”

Erza sighed sadly,

“You know he won’t be happy if he wakes up and you’ve made yourself sick from worrying about him.”

The pinkette smiled softly,

“I know, but at least I’ll know he’s himself again and he won’t disappear.”

“Will you at least eat something if I bring it up for you?” She uncharacteristically pleaded.

“Yeah,” He sighed, “Just something light though, okay?”

The red head smiled at her small success before placing a chaste kiss on the top of Natsu’s head comfortingly. She did the same for the twins in the dragon slayer’s arms before leaving the room. She would never let on to how worried she actually was out of fear that her worries would turn out to be true.

FTFTFTFT

The sun was shining on the snow covered ground creating a halo of light. The pine trees were coated in flawless frost and the snowflakes danced through the chilled wind in a graceful ballet. Like usual, the harsh cold wasn’t biting into his alabaster skin; it was as comfortable as the warm rays of the sun in the summer. The raven haired man didn’t know where he was, but he knew that he wasn’t supposed to be there. It felt like he had some unfinished business to do somewhere else, but he couldn’t remember what it was. The last thing he remembered was a feeling of relief and serenity, but then nothing after that; the blank in his mind terrified him immensely.

_Gray…_

The raven man turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar man walking towards him. The man was slightly taller than himself with alabaster skin and deep, emotional onyx eyes. The sun shone down on the stranger’s white hair creating as the same halo that was present on the snow. The raven felt like he should know this person, but he couldn’t place where he had seen him before. The white haired man stopped when he was standing right in front of him.

_You have to go back Gray; it’s not your time yet…_

“Who are you?” The raven whispered, “I-I know you from somewhere don’t I?”

The white haired man smiled sadly and a stray tear trailed from his eye. Before the raven could react, the familiar stranger placed a cold hand on his cheek. Electricity sizzled from the skin to skin contact, almost bringing up long forgotten memories; but was still unattainable to him. The white haired man leaned forward and placed his frozen lips on the raven’s alabaster forehead hoping that it would be enough.

The raven flinched as memories flooded his mind and closed his eyes to process what he was experiencing; images of the white haired stranger appeared along with a raven haired woman, a pink haired man, two babies and a room filled with other people. When the raven opened his eyes, tears started to poor down his face like a cascading waterfall. He launched himself at the white haired man and pulled him into a tight hug,

“L-Lyon,” He whispered, “I never thought I’d see you again.”

Lyon returned the hug and ran his hand through the raven hair that tickled the end of his nose,

_You idiot, of course you would’ve seen me again._

Gray stepped out of his brother’s arms and wiped the tears from his eyes,

“Am I dead?”

 _No._ Lyon frowned sadly, _It was close though; without the fire bastard’s quick thinking, you very well could have._

“A-Are the babies alright?!”

Lyon laughed before nodding his head; Gray instantly relaxed at the notion. He looked into his brother’s onyx eyes, wishing that he could spend more time with him, but knew that it wasn’t possible. The late-mage seemed to know what the younger man was thinking so he placed his hand on Gray’s cheek,

_Everything will be okay; we’ll meet again when the time is right._

“I-I know,” He whispered as more tears trailed down his cheeks, “B-But it’s still so hard; I don’t want to leave you here all alone.”

 _But I’m not alone,_ Lyon promised, _Ur is here and so is your birth mother; we’ll be just fine watching over you, Natsu and your sons. We’re patient Gray; we can wait for your time to come just fine._

Gray nodded before wrapping his arms around his older brother one more time,

“Thank you Lyon, for finding me.”

_I’ll find you always… I love you Gray, stay safe…_

“I love you too Lyon… always…”

A bright, blinding light filled the snowy landscape and would’ve blinded everything in sight. When the light disappeared, Gray had disappeared and left Lyon standing in the snow. The white haired man turned on his heel and walked to the two waiting raven haired women who stood beyond the barrier.

FTFTFTFT

When the twins had fallen asleep once more, Natsu carried them over to the cribs and laid them down. He ran his fingers through their tuffs of pink and raven hair before putting the glass back over them; it worked as a barrier to make sure no access magic alerted the Magic Council before Fried sealed the Core that resided in both of them. Erza had brought up a bowl of soup some time ago, but Natsu couldn’t find the will to eat it. He knew that he needed it in order to survive, but he also knew he wouldn’t be able to keep anything down at the moment; his anxiety was just too high. He reclaimed his seat next to his ice mage’s bed and resumed his constant vigil.

He reached out and ran his hand along the smooth alabaster cheek and across the cold, pink lips. His hand then ran along the scared tissue that branched from his neck to the end of his shoulder before tracing the scars that ran across his left temple and right eye. All the challenges the mage faced were marked somewhere on his body; each scar representing each time Gray had found the will to become stronger both physically and mentally.

Natsu leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his ice mage’s forehead, then his nose and finally his lips; the cold that was both familiar to him and scared him. He was about to pull away when he felt his lover’s lips moving against his; the dragon slayer froze, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Natsu nervously pulled away, almost afraid that his mind was playing tricks on him. When he sat up, he saw mismatched blue eyes staring up at him tiredly. A weak smile was formed on the pink lips he had just kissed and tears were tinkling down his cheeks. The dragon slayer gently pulled his mate into a somewhat sitting position before pulling him into a hug. Tears flooded his onyx eyes when he felt the slightly chilled arms wrap around him in return.

“I’m sorry.” He heard Gray whisper, “I’m home.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading!


	10. This Is The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Council Starting to Close In, What will our new parents do?

Gray was getting extremely tired of sitting in the infirmary for days on end. If it weren’t for Natsu and his other friends coming to visit him hours on end, he probably would’ve gone insane a long time ago. He sighed impatiently and turned his attention to the snow that was falling outside. He would give anything to run into the snow, strip off his clothes (much to his guild mates’ displeasure) and have a massive snowball war with the flame bastard and the rest of the guild. However, before Gray could even contemplate doing any of that he had to let his abdomen finish healing from the emergency surgery, get his six pack back and make sure his sons were potty trained; this was going to be a long couple years.

Gray strained his ears to see if anyone was coming towards the infirmary to check on him before he climbed out of bed. His legs were still a little shaky from the lack of use over the past couple weeks, but no one was going to stop him from seeing his sons. Using the bed as support, the raven walked, more or less stumbled, to the cribs at the base of his bed. When he reached his destination, he lowered himself into the chair that had been placed there for his use. He gazed into the magically sealed cribs and couldn’t help but smile at the sleeping faces of the twins. The youngest was moving his legs fitfully, but remained deep asleep; the oldest, however, was completely still and at peace.

The ice mage’s mind wandered to when they finally decided on the names of the babies. After two weeks of the babies being referred to ‘little Gray’ and ‘little Natsu’ (Lucy’s doing most likely) the lovers decided that the babies should finally get their own names. Before the babies were born, the two had come up with a list of names, but for some reason the names on the list didn’t seem very fitting anymore. While Gray had been asleep over the two weeks, the babies had already started to develop their own distinguishable personalities; so the ice mage wanted their names to have special meanings…

_***_

_Lucy, Loke, Erza, Gajeel and Wendy were gathered around Natsu and Gray as they held their babies. Everyone feared that the lovers would never get to experience this moment together, but now that they have, they had all come to agreement that it was the most beautiful sight that they had ever seen. The fire dragon slayer and the ice mage were already in a sense a family, but with the additions of the unnamed twins, they looked complete._

_The youngest son was being held in the ice mage’s arms; his wide deep blue eyes were staring up at Gray in interest. He reached up his little hand and grabbed a hold of the silver chain that hung around his neck. Gray lurched forward slightly from the sudden tug, but smiled when he realized what it was. Natsu on the other hand was holding onto the pink haired twin; the oldest was calm and was just looking at his Daddy observantly, as if waiting for him to do something._

_“Natsu,” Gray began after a while, “You haven’t named them yet, have you?”_

_“No,” Natsu snorted, “There’s no way I could’ve done it without you; probably would’ve frozen my balls then castrate me if I did.”_

_The raven pretended to contemplate the thought,_

_“I don’t know, I’d probably come up with something much worse.”_

_“Wouldn’t put it past you.” Natsu laughed along with their friends standing around them._

_“Have you guys made a list of names or anything?” Erza asked curiously._

_“Yeah, a pretty big one too, but I don’t think any of them would fit the twins…” Gray said thoughtfully, “What do you think Natsu?”_

_Natsu nodded and gazed down at his pink haired son thoughtfully. The deep blue eyes stared back as if he was following the conversation that was happening around him. He lifted a pudgy hand and reached for his Papa. The dragon slayer pouted at the gesture while Gajeel just chuckled. Natsu shifted the pink haired twin in his arms so that he could trade with Gray, but the raven haired twin refused to let go of Gray’s chain._

_“Haha, looks like they both want you.” Natsu teased lightly, “Mornings are going to be hell for you.”_

_The raven glared at his lover,_

_“I am NOT getting up to take care of them by myself, so you can forget it.”_

_Natsu leaned over to press his lips against Gray’s temple when something tugged on his scarf lightly. He shifted his gaze down and laughed when he saw that the raven twin’s hand had transferred from Gray’s chain to his scarf. Gray and Natsu carefully traded the twins and settled back down._

_The raven twin snuggled into Natsu’s constant warmth and let his deep blue eyes drift closed. He turned his head and noticed that the young pinkette had curled into Gray’s arms and fallen asleep as well. Natsu and Gray stared at their babies lovingly for a moment before Wendy’s quiet laugh brought them back to Earthland._

_“What’s up Wendy?” The dragon slayer wondered curiously._

_“It’s just that their magic hasn’t even fully awakened yet, but they already know what they need.” Wendy giggled, “Well Pinky-chan knows what he needs anyway.”_

_“What do you mean?” Lucy asked with an eyebrow raised._

_“Well if remember, Pinky-chan always seems to be kind of restless when he’s with Natsu-kun. He doesn’t throw a fit or anything, but when he’s sleepy he tends to reach for Gray-kun. It’s because he’s a fire mage like his Dad; he gets overheated when he cuddles with Natsu for too long.”_

_The four mages contemplated Wendy’s explanation and noticed that she was absolutely right. For the majority of the day, the pinkette twin liked being with Natsu, but when he started to get sleepy he would start wanting the ice mage; as soon as he would get in Gray’s arms he would go to sleep._

_“It seems that Pinky-chan is really clever.” Erza pointed out proudly, “He’s even able to trick his own brother into believing that he wants something else.”_

_“What do you mean Erza?” Lucy inquired._

_Gray laughed when he figured out what the red haired mage was getting at,_

_“Pinky wanted me, but Blacky wanted me too so he reached for me knowing Natsu would oblige to his wishes. By doing this Blacky got sidetracked by Natsu’s scarf instead of my chain and let go willingly.”_

_“That is one clever baby,” Natsu laughed, “He even used his own Dad.”_

_“That’s not too hard,” Gajeel smirked, “You’re an idiot.”_

_Natsu growled deep in his throat,_

_“I’m so going to kick your ass later.”_

_“You mean you’ll try.”_

_Natsu opened his mouth to retort when Gray’s voice cut him off,_

_“Toshiro…”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“His name,” Gray nodded to the pinkette sleeping in his arms, “is Toshiro Igneel Dragneel.”_

_The room silenced at that moment. Everyone, especially Gray, knew that Natsu was frozen on the twin’s middle name. Gray could see the tears building in his lovers eyes and started to regret saying anything before warm lips pressed against his,_

_“I love it,” Natsu whispered against his lips, “It’s perfect.”_

_“Toshiro,” Loke smiled, “Japanese for the word wise; I have to agree with it being perfect that’s for sure.”_

_“It’s a beautiful name Gray.” Lucy smiled kindly._

_“What are you going to name Blacky-chan?” Wendy said excitedly._

_“I’ll leave that one up to you Natsu,” Gray laughed, “I named Shiro, it’s your turn.”_

_Natsu furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully and stared down at the sleeping baby in his arms. The youngest had a lot of problems when he was born; he was smaller than Toshiro and had a weaker immune system. According to Porlyusica, that was normal with twins, but was also commonly seen in ice mages. The hag and Gramps were worried that ‘little Gray’ wasn’t going to pull through. But it turned out he was just as stubborn as both his fathers and then some; everything worked out. Natsu smiled as a name finally came to mind,_

_“I like the name Niall; of course his full name would be Niall Lyon Dragneel.”_

_Gray smiled at the sentiment and thought about his lover’s name choice,_

_“Niall… I like it too, has a nice ring to it.”_

_The ice mage and the dragon slayer shifted so that Natsu was now sitting on the bed beside Gray. The raven leaned his head on the pinkette’s shoulder and smiled in contentment. He couldn’t be more happy that Toshiro Igneel Dragneel and Niall Lyon Dragneel had come into their lives._

_***_

Gray smiled happily at the memory and continued to watch Toshiro and Niall as they slept. He placed his hand on the glass that covered Niall and was about to lift it up when a familiar warm arm wrapped around his shoulders. He turned and wasn’t surprised to find Natsu standing behind him staring at his sons. Natsu grabbed Gray’s hand and helped him to his feet then wrapped a firm arm around Gray’s waist to keep his ice mage’s legs steady. The raven leaned into the pinkette and rested his head in the crook of Natsu’s neck.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Natsu teased, “Erza would flip if she was the one to come up.”

Gray shuddered at the thought of an angry Erza,

“Yeah, I’m glad it’s you alright.”

Natsu laughed and placed a kiss against Gray’s temple,

“We have to get Shiro and Niall ready; Freed and Gramps are going to be up in a few minutes to seal the Core.”

Gray tensed slightly at the mention of the sealing, but relaxed when he remembered that Natsu and his friends were going to be by his side. The ice mage nodded in understanding and both himself and his dragon slayer stepped forward and opened the seals that protected the cribs. As Gray reached in to pick up Niall, a sense of foreboding washed over him. He shook his head and pretended that it never happened; after all, it had to be his imagination.

FTFTFT

Natsu wasn’t exaggerating when he said that Freed and Gramps were going to be up in a few moments. Natsu and Gray stood side by side, hips touching as a form of assurance, as they entered the room. Gajeel, Lucy, Erza and Loke followed them in as well in order to fulfill their duties as friends and godparents; Wendy felt it wasn’t her place to attend, so she decided to wait outside the infirmary until the runes were complete. Gramps stepped forward and cleared his throat before addressing the young adults in the room,

“Alright, I just want to make sure that this is what you two really want to do. You can back out now if you want to, it’s up to you.”

“This is the only way they’ll be safe,” Gray whispered, “I don’t ever want them to experience what I did and this is the only way to make sure they never have to.”

“I’m with Gray all the way on this Gramps; we just want them to be happy.”

Makarov smiled softly at the strength that the two men before him possessed. Not many people have dealt with what they have and come out intact. Of course, this only happened because they had each other; they didn’t let anything separate them. Even now, they were going to protect each other to the end; he couldn’t be more proud of his two children.

“Freed,” Makarov turned to the green haired mage, “It’s time.”

Freed nodded in understanding and approached his nakama without hesitation. He kept eye contact with the two mages as he spoke,

“The casting is pretty simple, I need to perform the runes on them simultaneously due to the fact that they each possess half the core,” Gray and Natsu nodded in understanding, “Can you lay them on the bed so I can begin?”

Gray and Natsu hesitantly laid Niall and Shiro on the bed side by side. The twins reached out to each other so that their pudgy hands now clung to each other. The lovers quickly kissed their sons’ foreheads and stepped away from the bed. Natsu stood behind Gray and wrapped his arms around Gray’s waist in a backwards hug. The raven leaned into the contact and tried to supress the worries that continued to plague him since he heard Freed and Gramps were heading up.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by the presence of his friends standing around them as a wall of support; Gajeel even seemed genuinely worried. Freed placed his hands over the twins and magic circles immediately formed above them. After a few moments nothing seemed to be happening, but then Gray lost complete feeling in his body. He looked down at his arms and he saw that the golden aura that normally formed around him when the Core activated was beginning to pulse around him.

“N-Natsu…”

The dragon slayer seemed to finally clue in to what was happening right in front of him. He hastily whipped Gray around so that they were looking each other in the eye; a kaleidoscope of colours was beginning to surface. The lovers turned to the babies on the bed and noticed that the Core was activating for them too.

“Freed stop, the Cores are…”

Before the words could leave Gray’s mouth, the runes over Shiro and Niall exploded sending everyone in the room flying backwards except for the bearers of the Core of Magic. When the runes exploded, so did the Core, showering the Fairy Tail guild hall with the seven Elements of Magic. Gray fell to his knees from the use of power, but Natsu had his arms around him before his head could even touch the ground.

“N-Niall,” Gray coughed, “T-Toshiro… are they okay?! Natsu go check on them please!”

Natsu handed Gray’s exhausted body over to Gajeel and Loke who had moved to stand beside them. Erza and Lucy ran over to Gramps and Freed to see if they were alright. Natsu nearly tripped over his own feet when he reached the bed, but was relieved to see that the babies were wide awake and very alert; maybe a little confused.

“They’re okay,” Natsu sighed in relief.

“W-What happened?!” Lucy cleared her throat, “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“It was my Core of Magic,” Gray rasped, “I don’t think it was too fond of Freed trying to seal up its descendants.”

Suddenly, the door burst open and Wendy, followed by Mira and Elfman ran into the room. They looked confused, terrified and ready to kick ass, which wasn’t always a good thing.

“What’s going on Mira?” Gramps demanded.

“The Council knows,” Mira whispered as tears gathered in her eyes, “And they’re on their way here to arrest Gray for treason and take Toshiro and Niall into their custody.”

Everyone in the room froze; no one spoke, no one moved and no one breathed. They all just stared at Mira like she had just said the sky was falling. Natsu was the first to snap out of it; he gathered his sons in his arms and sat beside Gray once more, his ice mage was on the verge of having a panic attack.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Natsu whispered, “We’ll fight…”

“No.” Gray’s voice broke.

“What do you mean ‘no’?!” Natsu roared causing Gray to flinch slightly.

“I’m not going to be the reason Fairy Tail gets disbanded,” Gray whispered, “I refuse to let that happen.”

“Well I’m not going to let you turn yourself in either!” The dragon slayer argued.

Gray reached out and pulled Niall into his arms. He stared down into the pools of deep blue and then looked at everyone in the room; Wendy, Gramps, Freed, Mira, Elfman, Erza, Loke, Lucy, Gajeel and finally, the light of his existence, Natsu. He closed his eyes and tears started to roll down his cheeks. He felt Natsu’s warm hand on his cheek, his thumb trying to wipe away all his tears. Gray opened his eyes and looked into the sea of onyx sitting before him. A quiet conversation seemed to pass between them that only they could understand.

“I’m going to leave Magnolia,” Gray whispered, “And I’m going to take Niall with me.”

The room was shocked into further silence and was even more surprised when Natsu nodded his head in understanding,

“I may not like it, but it’s probably the only way.”

Natsu helped Gray to his feet and wrapped his arm around the lean waist. The ice mage turned to Makarov,

“I’m sorry Gramps, but I’m going to have to leave the guild.”

“NO!” Erza cried, “Gray, you can’t this is your home.”

“Erza’s right, I’m not letting you leave the guild.” Makarov denied.

“But…”

“Fairy Tail will be waiting for your return Gray Fullbuster,” Makarov continued, “We will see you again and you will rejoin your family.”

More tears rolled down Gray’s cheeks as his friends pulled him into a tight group hug. He tried to return each and every group hug to his best ability. Finally, he turned to Natsu who was watching him, trying to hold back tears of his own. Gray handed Niall to Erza and Gajeel before taking Toshiro out of Natsu’s arms. Toshiro snuggled against Gray’s natural cold aura as he placed a kiss on the smooth, tanned forehead. He ran his hand through the tuff of pink hair affectionately as he spoke to his son,

“Shiro, be good for your Daddy and do as he says. I’m so sorry, that I’ll be leaving, but I want you to know that this isn’t what I wanted. I will come back to you one day; both me and Niall and then we can be a family again. Be strong my little flame thrower and grow to be an even better man than both your father and I combined.”

Gray noticed that Natsu had moved to Niall and was saying goodbye as well. Gray wanted to collapse from everything that was happening, but he knew he had to stay strong. After a few moments, Natsu handed Niall back to Erza and Gajeel, while Gray handed Toshiro to Loke and Lucy. The two lovers walked up to each other slowly; prolonging their goodbye as long as they could. When they reached each other, Gray placed his hands in Natsu’s committing his warmth to memory; he knew that his dragon slayer was doing the same for his cold.

“Please wait for me,” Gray’s voice cracked, “I know it’s a lot to ask but…”

“Marry me.” Natsu interrupted.

“W-What?!” Gray choked.

“Promise me that when you come back home, you’ll marry me right here in this guild hall.” Natsu whispered, “Promise me that your love for me will never change, promise me that you’ll think of me every day and promise me that you’ll tell Niall about his Daddy like I’ll tell Shiro about his Papa.”

Gray’s lip trembled as he tried to hold in his tears,

“I promise you everything Natsu. I’ll marry you when I come home and Niall will know how much his Daddy loved him and wanted to be with him. He’ll know how brave his Daddy was and how his Papa loved him very much and never wanted to let him go. I promise that we will meet again Natsu Dragneel; I could never leave you for very long without having to come back.”

Gray wrapped his arms around his mate’s neck and buried his face into the warm shoulder as warm wrapped around his waist once more. Natsu kissed the top of Gray’s head, then the tip of his nose and then the lips. The last bit of magic shared between them for who knows how many years they would spend separated. The kiss was electrifying, salty and life absorbing; they both knew this kiss was the final promise… the promise that they would see each other again. Natsu rested his head against his love’s, feeling Gray’s minty scent one last time.

“I love you Gray,” Natsu sobbed, “Please come back to me.”

“I will; I won’t ever leave you alone,” Gray cried, “I’ll always come back to you, I love you almost as much as my own existence.”

With one last kiss, the lovers separated. Natsu held onto his ice mage’s hand as they walked over to the twins. Gray raised his shaky arms and Erza placed Niall into his arms; tears cascading down her face. The ice mage glanced at each teary eyed member of his family before giving them all one last hug,

“Be safe,” Gray smiled sadly, “Make sure Natsu and Shiro don’t cause too much trouble and don’t go overboard too much… actually… I lied, go overboard so I can read about it.”

His friends laughed and smiled at him through their tears. He walked away from them and stood at the far end of the infirmary. A colourful magic circle instantaneously appeared at the base of his feet and the golden aura covered his skin once more. His raven hair turned a pure white and his blue eyes changed into every colour of the elements. A warm, electrifying wind whipped around him while the smell of grass and metal entered his senses. He could hear the water in the distance and could feel the cold snow on his skin. His eyes met Natsu’s one final time before Niall and he were whisked away from Magnolia, from their life, for an undetermined amount of time.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	11. Eight Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timeskip Jig!

_-8 Years Later-_

The sun hung high in the sky and beat down on his shoulders as the small raven haired boy took in the new surroundings. Everything seemed so much grander and more mystical in Magnolia than it did in the secluded, icy village that he spent most of his childhood in. Overall, his childhood was pretty good, but there were times where he wanted to use his ice magic to freeze each and every person into an icicle. The people in his past village didn’t understand his Papa; he forever remained the stranger who randomly zoned out and lost his clothing at any time during the day and night.

For some reason, being in Magnolia gave a different vibe; his Papa seemed so much happier here and he was more relaxed than he had ever seen him. The only time his Papa had been remotely like this was when he was little and he was telling him bedtime stories about his times in the Fairy Tail guild and his Dad. His Papa was happiest whenever he talked about his Dad; his eyes sparkled when he spoke of the loud mouthed, pink haired dragon slayer who saved his life.

Niall sighed as he searched the crowded streets for any signs of his Papa; at some point they had gotten separated and he had no idea where to start looking for him. He walked through the clumps of people hoping to find a sign of his, more than likely shirtless, father among them. He was so sidetracked that he ran fast first into someone.

He stumbled from the impact and nearly fell on his butt, only to have a pale hand grab onto his forearm and stop him from touching the ground. He righted himself and looked at the person he ran into; the first thing he noticed was the kind brown eyes staring down at him worriedly. Her golden blonde hair was shining from the rays of the sun and she was carrying so many shopping bags that it was a miracle that she was able to prevent him from falling.

“Oh my god,” She gasped, “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Niall shrugged as he laughed, “I wasn’t watching where I was going either, sorry.”

The woman smiled sweetly and opened her mouth to say more when a hyperactive boy with pink hair came barrelling into both of them. It was like he was on a sugar high; he was basically vibrating from where he stood. His wide deep blue eyes were jumping from the woman and to Niall himself in mild curiosity. His tanned skin was basically radiating its own heat; he had to be dying from the sun.

“Aunty Lucy what’s taking so long?!” The pinkette demanded playfully, “Dad said that we would go to the river behind the guild when we got back and you’re taking too long.”

The blonde rolled her eyes and ran her hands through the boy’s pink hair,

“Well maybe if you didn’t run off on me we would be back right now; you’re too much like your Dad if you ask me.”

The boy smiled innocently and turned his gaze to Niall,

“You want to come along to the guild? The more people we have over the more fun it would be!”

Niall smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck,

“I-I don’t think I should; I have to find my Papa anyways, I kind of lost him.”

“Oh you poor thing,” The blonde whispered, “What does your Papa look like, maybe we can find him.”

Niall was about to respond when he saw a symbol on the back of the woman’s hand. It was a faint pink, so faint he could barely see it, but it resembled the mark on his Papa’s chest. In fact if he put money on it, he would say it was identical. The boy must have caught him staring because the next thing he knew, the pinkette was tugging on his hand to get his attention.

“Do you know that symbol?” The boy demanded, “You seem like you’ve seen it before.”

“I think so,” Niall mumbled nervously, “It’s the symbol of Fairy Tail; then again Fairy Tail is so popular that I could see it anywhere.”

“Well yeah,” The pinkette rolled his eyes, “I mean that you act as if you’ve seen it loads of times!”

“M-My Papa has that mark.” He whispered as he averted their gaze.

“Y-Your Papa?” The blonde’s voice cracked, “Is your Papa’s name Gray Fullbuster?”

Niall tensed at the question and started to back away from the strangers when the pinkette latched onto his hand. He tried to pull away, but the hand just held onto him tighter and Niall could feel his tanned skin getting warmer. He hissed when he felt his skin starting to burn under the contact. Without thinking he smashed a fist into the palm of his captured hand and summoned his ice magic causing the slightly taller boy to let go.

“Toshiro!” The blonde reprimanded as she noticed the raw skin around the raven’s wrist, “You have to be more careful.”

The boy, now known as Toshiro, ignored her and continued to keep eye contact with Niall. Deep blue eyes met deep blue eyes and they felt an instant connection; it was like they were two parts of the same whole. It was as if they knew each other, but they didn’t; it was the weirdest thing that he had ever experienced. As Niall focused on the pinkette, he was able to see himself… he found things that were identical, yet so different. He thought back to the stories that his Papa used to tell him and he remembered how his Papa used to describe his Dad; pink haired, tanned, brave, hot headed and a fire dragon slayer. He then looked at the pinkette before him and he realized that he looked almost exactly like the description of his father.

“Your Dad is Natsu Dragneel.” Niall whispered as he put the pieces together, “Y-Your m-my…”

“Niall,” Toshiro smiled, “That’s your name right and your Papa is Gray Fullbuster?”

Niall nodded numbly and stared at the two people standing in front of him. He thought back to his bedtime stories once again and he remembered when his Papa would talk about his closest friends. If he remembered correctly there was a girl named Lucy who controlled celestial spirits… could she be?

“Are you Lucy Heartfilia?” He asked the blonde.

Lucy smiled softly and chuckled under her breath,

“Yes, yes I am – though if Loke had his way, it probably wouldn’t be.”

“Loke is your celestial spirit Leo, right?” Niall said shyly.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Lucy laughed, “So if you don’t mind me asking why are you in Magnolia?”

“According to Papa, it’s time.” Niall shrugged as he glanced at his reunited twin brother, “My guess is Papa feels it’s time that we came back home.”

Lucy turned to Toshiro hastily,

“Your dad doesn’t know Gray’s in town does he?”

“No,” Toshiro snorted as he crossed his arms, “If he did, do you think he would be in the guild waiting for us?”

“I was just asking,” Lucy smacked the boy over the back of the head, “They do their mind talk thing a lot, so I was wondering if Gray had mentioned it.”

Toshiro rubbed the back of his head and glared at the celestial mage before looking at his younger brother,

“What do you say we get our Dad and Papa back together; they’ve waited long enough.”

Niall smiled and nodded in agreement; he would finally be able to see his Papa’s eyes sparkle once more. Unbeknownst to him, Toshiro was thinking the exact same thing.

FTFTFT

Gray sprinted around the main square of Magnolia town frantically. He searched high and low hoping his son would show up, but so far he hadn’t had any luck. The last time Niall was with him was when they went to the Magic Shop to look at the merchandise and so Gray could say hello to an old friend; but when he turned around Niall was no longer there and the streets were overflowing with people.

“Niall!” He shouted as he ran, “Niall, where are you?!”

His heart was pounding in his ears and his breathing was starting to get frantic. Had they returned to Magnolia too soon?! Had the Magic Council known that they were coming and were just waiting for the opportune moment to take Niall away?! All the endless possibilities flew through Gray’s head as he ran, making him more and more anxious as time went on. He stopped people and asked if they had seen him, only to be forced to answer how he was and where he had been and that he had been missed; he wanted to punch everyone for the lack of assistance.

He continued to run until he reached the graveyard where Lyon was. A tugging in his heart told him to go in, but he had to find Niall before he was injured or worse. However, his body didn’t want to listen to him. As if his legs were moving on their own, he walked into the cemetery and towards Lyon’s resting place. His heart quickened as he neared the tombstone and nearly it nearly stopped when he saw who was standing in front of it. Two eight year old boys were standing before the stone holding hands; one he immediately recognized as Niall and the other was a slightly taller pink haired boy. Although he hadn’t seen the second child in eight long years, he would never forget the dishevelled pink hair that resembled Natsu’s so much.

“T-Toshiro?” His voice broke as tears gathered in the corner of his eyes, “N-Niall?”

Both boys turned to their Papa simultaneously; Niall was smiling brightly, while Toshiro’s eyes were slowly filling with tears. The raven boy gently nudged the pinkette boy forward to get him moving; the pinkette didn’t need much prompting. Toshiro ran full speed to Gray as if they had never been separated. Shiro launched himself into his Papa’s arms and the older raven immediately lifted him up and clutched him tightly to his chest.

The young pinkette clung to him tightly, his warmth quickly engulfing the ice mage in comfort that he had not felt in a very long time. He ran his hand through the pink hair rhythmically as if assuring himself that this was indeed happening. The next thing he knew, Niall was running towards him too and he hugged his Papa’s middle tightly. Gray lowered his oldest son to the ground and kneeled before the both of them. He ran his hands along their matching faces and smiled through the tears that were running down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” He whispered, “We never wanted…”

“We know,” Shiro smiled, “Dad has told me countless times and I’m sure Niall has heard it more from you.”

“S-Still…”

“Papa,” Niall wrapped his arms around his father and looked up into the mismatched blue eyes, “We understand; it’s not like we didn’t know each other existed. Both you and Dad made sure to tell us everything, and for that we couldn’t be happier.”

“Thank you.” He choked as he pulled his sons into a tight hug.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment, just soaking in what was happening when the two young boys moved out of Gray’s arms and each grabbed a hand. They started to lead him out of the graveyard; but before Lyon’s gravestone was gone, he turned his head and mouthed the word thank you to his older brother who he knew was watching them. He let Niall and Shiro lead him down the street; content with letting them do whatever they pleased until he found himself a few meters away from the guild hall. He dug his heels in and refused to move a step further; his body was completely frozen as he stared at the guild hall doors.

“I-I can’t…” Gray’s voice trailed off.

“Papa, you waited eight years,” Niall laughed, “You pretty much went through hell in that goddamn ice pit.”

Gray’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at his raven haired son,

“Language, Niall.”

Shiro smiled brightly up at his Papa,

“Don’t worry; you won’t have to go in right away.”

“Oh, I know,” Gray smirked slightly, “He’ll come out here.”

Right on cue, the guild doors burst open as if a bomb went off on the inside. Gray’s legs threatened to buckle at the sight of his love standing before him. Natsu Dragneel had yet to spot him, but by watching the twitch of his nose, he knew that Natsu could smell him just fine. For the second time that day, his heart started to pound in his ears and anxiety was starting to pulse through him like an everlasting drum. He squeezed his sons’ hands before releasing them and walking towards the confused and oblivious dragon slayer. Subconsciously he started to run faster than he had ever run before and it felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat.

“OI NATSU!”

The pinkette’s head jerked to the left comically just as Gray’s body collided with his own. Gray, his ice mage, engulfed every sense that he had possessed. He could smell Gray’s minty scent, he could hear Gray’s heavy breathing, he could feel Gray’s body pressing against his own, he could see Gray’s blue eyes and he could taste Gray’s lips as they pressed against his own. For the first time in eight years, ice clashed with fire and fire swallowed ice; the electricity they created was palpable and they missed every part of it. When they finally separated to get air into their hungry lungs, Natsu placed his lover on the ground. He caressed the cold cheek with his warm hand; his thumbs running over his cheekbones, his nose and every scar that could be seen.

“Y-You’re here…” Natsu’s eyes filled with tears, “You’re finally here…”

Gray couldn’t even find the strength to say anything. He wrapped his arms around his dragon slayer’s neck and held onto him so that he knew that this wasn’t a dream; they could actually touch each other, smell each other, and feel each other; if Gray could describe magic he would say it was wherever Natsu was (No matter how insanely cheesy that sounds).

“I love you Natsu Dragneel,” Gray choked out as he gazed into the pools of onyx.

“And I love you Gray Fullbuster,” Natsu laughed, “I always have and I always will.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	12. Family Reunited Once More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two Squares of a large mismatched quilt have been reattached

He didn’t know how long he stood in his dragon slayer’s arms before a soft cough pulled them out of their euphoria. Gray untangled himself from Natsu, but didn’t get very far due to the protective arm that circled around his waist. He could feel the tension and fear of the pinkette’s body pulsing against his and he was sure that Natsu could feel his as well; they were both hoping that this wasn’t a dream… that they wouldn’t wake up to find themselves alone all over again. When the lovers turned, their sons were standing in front of them with tears running down their cheeks and hands clasped together.

Gray smiled brightly at the two boys before kneeling in front of them and pulling them into his arms. The twins clung onto the older ice mage’s now bare shoulders before letting the raven straighten up once more. Natsu smiled at the small raven hiding his tears stained face into the crook of his lover’s neck. Onyx met blue and Gray immediately recognized the want and need that was in the pinkette’s gaze; he probably looked exactly the same when he saw Shiro standing next to Niall in the graveyard. Slowly, the raven placed his sons on the ground once more and squeezed the smaller raven’s hand tightly as a form of confidence.

Niall glanced up at the tall pinkette and found more tears gathering in his eyes. He untangled his hand from his Papa’s and latched onto his father’s waist. Natsu smiled softly with tears in his own eyes as he ran his hands through the raven hair rhythmically. The dragon slayer leaned forward and lifted the younger raven into his arms.

Niall wrapped his arms around his Dad’s neck and buried his face into the warmth of the dragon slayer’s shoulder; the feeling was so familiar to him… almost like a distant memory. Natsu nuzzled his face into the raven’s hair before glancing over at his other raven with a faint smile. Gray smiled back while carding his hand through Shiro’s pink hair. Natsu walked over to his long lost lover and placed a soft kiss on the tip of his nose before wrapping his free arm around the slim waist once more,

“What do you say we welcome you back home?”

Gray nodded as Natsu put the younger raven down and immediately latched onto the smaller hand. The reunited family walked toward the closed guild doors; Gray could feel his heart speeding up in anticipation as the doors got closer and closer. He was finally going to see his family after eight years. Niall was going to finally meet his godparents and finally see where he had grown up; he could finally have the chance to be truly happy.

As they stood before the doors, prepared to push them open, they were startled to find that someone beat them to it. A red haired and extremely furious requip mage was standing in front of them. She was glaring at Natsu with her infamous death glare and her sword was poised for attack… oh how the ice mage missed her.

“NATSU!” She roared, “WHY IN THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DESTROY MY STRAWBERRY CAKE?! YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON!”

Gray chuckled as he turned to his mate,

“Seriously Natsu, you should know better than to kill her strawberry cake.”

“EXACTLY!” Erza screamed, “YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO GRAY MORE…”

The red haired mage stopped midsentence and her brown eyes widened so far that they nearly rolled out of her head. Her eyes jumped from the smiling Natsu to the smirking Gray; her mind was barely processing what she was seeing. After a few tense moments her sword instantaneously returned to the dimension she stored her weapons in before glomping the raven haired man standing before her.

The sound of his head hitting her armour echoed around the seemingly still town. Gray winced at the familiar pain, but briefly released Shiro’s hand so he could return his ‘older sister’s’ hug. Erza pulled away and looked the raven haired man over; he was older, but it was definitely him.

“I’m so happy that you’re alright!” She laughed, “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too.” Gray wiped away the tears that started to gather in her eyes.

Shiro ran up to Erza with a mischievous smile on his face; Gray couldn’t help but notice how much he resembled Natsu in that moment,

“Aunty Erza!” He called, “Papa isn’t the only one who’s here you know!”

“Don’t interrupt Toshiro Dragneel,” She reprimanded sharply, “It’s not polite.”

Shiro scowled and crossed his arms across his chest stubbornly,

“But Aunty Erza, you can’t ignore your godson now can you.”

Gray watched in amusement when the red haired mage opened her mouth to scold the smaller mage once more when his words suddenly clicked. Her gaze shifted to Natsu and then even lower to find a small raven boy with wide deep blue eyes. Her heart nearly melted as she saw Gray’s much younger duplicate staring up at her; it reminded her of the good times that all three of them shared.

“Niall,” Natsu began, “This is your Aunty Erza, she’s a very good friend and your godmother.”

Niall seemed to look over the red head before laughing quietly,

“Papa was right.”

“Right about what?” Erza raised a fine eyebrow.

Gray on the other hand knew exactly where this conversation was going and tried to silently tell his son to shut his mouth. Instead of listening, Niall mirrored the same infamous smile that Shiro had used only moments before. His son had only been exposed to Natsu for a few moments and already he was acting like his Dad… he was so screwed!

“He said you acted like a fire breathing demon and scared the crap out of anyone with a glance.” Niall’s smile widened when he could practically see steam rising out of her ears.

“Oh really,” Erza smiled at the older ice mage darkly, “He said that did he.”

In the blink of an eye, the infamous Titania charged at the trembling ice mage with her sword drawn and imminent death radiating off her. Natsu released Niall’s hand and ran after his lover and friend as if Zeref was on his heels. He was screaming at the armoured mage in attempts to save his love from his death; only to call upon his own.

In a matter of moments, both the dragon and the prince were running from the knight. Niall was laughing at the entire fiasco clutching his stomach as pains coursed through him. Shiro was on the ground rolling around trying to catch his breath with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Hahahah,” The small raven chuckled, “I guess I should have told her that Papa said she was brave, honourable and the best friend that he had ever had too.”

“Oh hell no,” Shiro gasped, “This is so hilarious!”

They had finally managed to stop laughing only to burst into fits of laughter once more when their parents were tossed into the air like a sack of potatoes by the Queen of the Fairies.

FTFTFTFT

After getting their ass handed to them by Erza, the five of them entered the rambunctious guild hall. The only reason that Natsu and Gray were able to escape the wrath of Titania was through thorough persuasion… Natsu had to buy her strawberry cake for the rest of the year. As they entered the guild, Niall clung to Gray’s side shyly. He didn’t normally act like this, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to protect himself; he knew something bad had happened here, but he didn’t know how.

Gray ran his hand through his son’s hair encouragingly as they walked in together, hoping to calm the smaller raven down. When they entered the hall, the noise immediately silenced. All eyes had rested on them and Gray started to feel uncomfortable; that’s one thing that never changed over the years… he didn’t like to be stared at… now, that feeling was worse than ever. He felt that familiar feeling in his gut that told him to turn and run, but he promptly forced it into the back of his mind and leaned closer to Natsu. All the guild was still until…

“GRAY-SAMA!!!!!!!”

“Oh no…”

Before he could even stop it, he was knocked out of Natsu’s embrace and found his arms full of a bawling Juvia Lockster. Gray awkwardly patted her on the back and returned her embrace while shooting a ‘save me’ look at his dragon slayer. Natsu, however, was torn between laughing his ass off at Gray’s unfortunate predicament or growling with jealousy.

“G-Gray-sama,” Juvia sobbed hysterically, “Juvia missed you so much! Juvia is so glad that you returned to her safe and sound!”

“Uh, yeah…” Gray whispered awkwardly, “It’s nice to see you too Juvia…”

“Gray-sama!” Juvia screamed, “Is that your son?!”

Niall froze and inched closer to his Dad; he’s heard enough about the blue haired water mage to know that she was more than a little nuts. Juvia let go of Gray and ran towards Niall and lowered herself to his height. She was practically oozing with excitement and she kept looking at him funny; it really freaked him out.

“You look exactly like Gray-sama!” She said enthusiastically, “You’re so adorable!”

“Oi,” Natsu growled, “I can somewhat tolerate you molesting Gray, but I will not let you scare my son, you got that?”

Juvia shifted her gaze up to Natsu and rolled her eyes,

“You’re just jealous.”

“WHAT DO I HAVE TO BE JEALOUS ABOUT?!”

Flames were nearly spewing out of his mouth, but Juvia just shrugged her shoulders and walked away. She knew her Gray-sama would never belong to her, but she loved pushing Natsu over the edge. Luckily, Natsu calmed down as soon as Gray was by his side; his arm automatically wrapped around his waist and held him tightly.

Shiro had taken Niall’s hand and had started to show him around the guild. Niall was glancing at everything around him with wide blue eyes as he tried to take in all that he was seeing. He turned to find his Papa and immediately found him and just like he thought would happen, Gray Fullbuster’s spark had returned to his eyes.

While Toshiro showed Niall around, Gray and Natsu were surrounded by their friends. Everyone was hugging the ice mage and welcoming back home. Gajeel simply patted his back and smirked at him knowingly, while Wendy burst out into an onslaught of tears before going to hunt down the twins.

Lucy had summoned Loke and Makarov had appeared out of nowhere and nearly tackled the ice mage to the ground. Cana was offering him a drink, Elfman was screaming about being a man, Mira was serving drinks and freaking Wakaba out by turning into his wife and Romeo had said hi to Gray briefly before running towards Wendy and the twins and leading them to the river out back. As he watched the tables flying around and magic flying in every direction, Gray knew for a fact that he was FINALLY home.

As he moved around the guild, he noticed some new faces and he introduced himself to them; but it wasn’t like he had to really. However, there was a certain nineteen year old boy that stood out to him above the rest. The boy was tanned with sandy blonde hair and bright golden eyes; he was laughing with some of the other new members he had met. There was something about the boy that just drew Gray’s attention, but he couldn’t place his finger on what it was.

“Recognize him?” A voice whispered into his ear.

Gray chuckled as Natsu secured his arms around his mate’s waist and leaned over his shoulder. Natsu placed a soft kiss on the side of Gray’s neck sending heat through the ice mage’s normally cold body.

“Yeah,” Gray smiled, “I feel like I know him from somewhere.”

“It’s James Slifer.” Natsu laughed, “You know, the boy you gave elemental magic to?”

Gray’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment before realization struck him like a bolt of lightning,

“Oh! I remember him now; what kind of magic does he have?”

“He specializes in Earth Magic,” Natsu shrugged, “It’s very rare, but he has a clear mastery of it.”

“Well I’m glad that I could help.” Gray smirked as he nuzzled his face into the crook of Natsu’s neck.

The lovers searched for their sons to find them passed out on a table at the far side of the guild. They were curled up beside each other; Niall’s legs twitching faintly in his sleep, while Toshiro lay perfectly still. Gray and Natsu gazed at their sons fondly before lifting them up and saying goodbye to the partying guild members. People tried to stop them from leaving, but with the twins sleeping they thought it would be best if they went home. Besides, they haven’t even had time to their-selves yet.

FTFTFTFT

The full moon shone through the window and onto their bed acting as the only light source in the house. Gray was pressed firmly against his dragon slayer’s heated chest and the smell of a smouldering fire was imprinted on his senses. He could faintly feel Natsu’s breath ghosting against his neck and a calloused hand carding through his hair. The ice mage turned so that he was face to face with the pinkette before reaching up and planting a kiss on the side of Natsu’s jaw believing he was asleep. However, as soon as his cold lips pressed against the warm skin, Natsu’s onyx eyes opened and he smiled fondly at the man in his arms.

“Sometimes,” Natsu whispered as he held his mate tighter, “I still think I’m dreaming and you’re not actually here.”

“Why do you think I haven’t gone to sleep yet?” Gray admitted as he supressed a yawn.

Natsu buried his nose in the soft raven hair and let the minty scent that was purely Gray consume him,

“I’m sorry.”

Gray glanced up at his pinkette with a raised eyebrow,

“Why?”

“I know that living in Hielo was hard for you,” Natsu whispered, “And I know most of it was my fault…”

“Oh shut up,” Gray smacked his lover’s forehead gently, “It was bound to be hell with my stripping habit anyway and I **wanted** to talk to you in any way I possibly could. Travelling between our inner worlds took too much energy Natsu, so I’m happy we were able to communicate in some way without the Magic Council knowing.”

“But it must have been so hard for you Gray,” Natsu sighed, “Not to mention Niall…”

Gray laughed silently,

“Niall was fine; if anything it just gave him extra targets to practice his ice magic on.”

Natsu chuckled as he imagined a four year old Niall turning people into popsicles. Gray wrapped his arms tighter around Natsu and buried his face into the warmth as he sighed in contentment. The dragon slayer smiled at his exhausted lover and resumed his previous task of running his hand through his hair. They both sat in silence for a few moments before a mischievous smile spread across the dragon slayer’s face…

“So,” The pinkette whispered, “When do you want to get married?”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	13. Fear, Love, Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Beautiful Day for a Wedding, Too Bad SOMEONE had to ruin it

The morning sun’s rays peeked through the open window as it began its ascent into the fading indigo sky. Gray shifted in his sleep when the light pressed against his eyelids, but he didn’t want to wake up; he didn’t want to wake up and find himself alone again. He honestly didn’t know how much longer he could live like this. Soon the brightness of the sun became too unbearable and forced him to open his eyes, only to be greeted by the relaxed, sleeping face of his dragon slayer. Gray could feel tears caressing his cheeks as he realized that he didn’t have to wake up alone anymore… he was home.

Even though he had been back in Magnolia for a little over a month, he couldn’t help but fear that everything he experienced since he returned was a dream and he was still in Hielo, where he was shunned and ridiculed by the community. The ice mage closed his eyes and forced himself to take deep calming breaths. When he had finally calmed down, he simply just laid in bed and stared at Natsu as he slept; memorizing ever new feature like he would never see it again. He slowly reached out his hand and placed it on the pinkette’s cheek feeling the slightly rough and heated skin beneath his fingertips.

“Gray?” Natsu mumbled as his onyx eyes cracked open, “What’s wrong?”

The raven chuckled softly,

“Nothing’s wrong flame head; it’s morning already.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Natsu rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up, “Something’s bothering you, I can feel it.”

“Just thinking…”

“That’s never a good thing…” Natsu sighed.

“WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!” Gray’s cheeks enflamed from both embarrassment and anger.

Natsu smiled softly before climbing on top of his mate and caging him in between his arms,

“It means that you think too much ice block. You overthink things and then you needlessly scare yourself; it’s something that you’ve always done.”

Gray pouted,

“It’s not bad to think you know; it’s a skill that _you_ should practice more often.”

Natsu smirked and leaned down to place a searing kiss on his ice mage’s cold lips; as always they were met with the feeling of electricity. The pinkette pulled away and rested his forehead on the raven’s allowing their breath to mingle comfortably. After a few silent seconds, Gray wrapped his arms around Natsu’s neck and tangled his hands in the soft, spiked pink hair. The ice mage pulled his dragon slayer’s face down sealing their lips together once more. A chill ran down his back as Natsu ran his blazing tongue across his lower lip asking for entrance. He immediately opened his mouth and let his partner in.

The pinkette ran his warm and gentle fingers down his sides leaving traces of fire across his skin. Gray shuddered as Natsu ran his tongue over his palette and nibbled on his bottom lip. Natsu pulled away inducing a whimper from his mate as he did so. The pinkette smirked slightly before leaning down once more and pressing his lips to the raven’s scarred neck. Gray gasped as the sensitive area was suckled and then moaned in pleasure at the familiar heat that started to pool in his abdomen. After ravishing Gray’s neck for a few more moments, Natsu pulled away and rested his head next his ice mage’s ear.

“I love you,” Natsu whispered huskily.

“And I love you…”

Suddenly the sound of something crashing reached their ears. The lovers instantaneously froze and turned towards their bedroom door to find their sons staring at them with bright red faces. Niall was trying to avert his gaze, but was failing miserably while Shiro just stared openly at his parents with his deep blue eyes wide and his mouth slack. Gray glanced at the ground and noticed that the vase next to the door had shattered; probably from the twins throwing the door open.

“G-Good morning…”

 _Note to self_ , Gray and Natsu thought simultaneously, _Can’t have sex when you have children… for they are EVERYWHERE!_

FTFTFTFT

“I-I don’t know if I can do this…”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Lucy shouted hysterically, “You love him don’t you?!”

“Yes…”

“You don’t want to leave his side, right?!”

“Right…”

“And you want to spend the rest of your life with him?!”

“I do…”

“THEN WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” She shouted.

Gray sat in the chair in front of the body length mirror and buried his face in his hands. He was wearing a pressed, white tux with an ice blue tie and a red rose in his breast pocket. He ran his hands through his messy hair nervously and forced himself to take calming breaths. God, all this wedding planning seemed to do was make him panic all the time; it was a feeling that he wasn’t entirely fond of.

“W-What if he sees me and he changes his mind?” Gray muttered, “What if I walk down that damn aisle and he realizes what I’ve been telling him all along was true? What if he finally notices that I’m the harbinger of death and he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore? What if…OW!”

Gray massaged the bump that was growing on his head as Lucy re-strapped her high heel back onto her foot. A scowl was evident on her face and her brown eyes were burning with intensity; she took a deep breath before resting a seat next to Gray’s and putting her arm around him.

“God, Natsu was actually right; you do think too much.” Lucy sighed sadly, “You really have to stop doing that to yourself.”

“Doing what?” Gray chuckled bitterly.

“Drowning yourself in guilt.”

The celestial mage and ice mage glanced towards the door and saw Shiro in the doorway with a sad smile on his face. He made eye contact with Lucy and a message seemed to pass between them because the blonde mage pushed herself to her feet and headed out the door. Before leaving she turned to the pink haired boy,

“How’s your Dad doing?”

“About the same,” He whispered, “But don’t worry, Erza and Niall are dealing with him.”

Lucy nodded in understanding and shut the door behind her before going to look for the boys to see if they were ready. On the other side of the door, Shiro walked over to his Papa and took over Lucy’s vacant seat.

“Papa, when are you going to let yourself be truly happy again?”

Gray smiled sadly and gazed at his eight year old; his son was way too intelligent and observant,

“I’ll get there Shiro; it’ll take time, but I’ll get there.”

“But you are there!” The smaller raven shouted in frustration, “Why can’t you see it?!”

“Toshiro…”

“Dad loves you Papa!” He ignored him, “He wants to be with you forever, but he’s scared that you’re not ready yet! You love Dad just as much and you shouldn’t let anyone stop you from being happy! What would Uncle Lyon say to you if he heard you thinking the way that you are?!”

At that moment, Gray didn’t see his son; he saw a twenty two year old Natsu Dragneel sitting beside him and telling him off for the exact same reasons eight years ago. A small smile spread across his lips at the memory and he pulled his eight year old fire mage onto his lap. He ran his hand through the pink hair and Shiro wrapped his arms around his Papa’s neck to hide the tears that ran down his cheeks.

“It took me having to be told off by my eight year old son to see reason,” He muttered with a chuckle, “Wow, I’m pathetic.”

“No Papa…” Toshiro whispered as he stared into his mismatched eyes, “You’re human.”

FTFTFTFT

The river that ran behind the guild hall was silenced by the voices that chatted excitably around it. Countless chairs were lined up and filled with guild members as they waited for the wedding to start. Sakura blossoms littered the ground decoratively and white ribbons joined the seats together to form an aisle. A cool breeze blew through the intense heat of midsummer, showing that Lyon and Ur were definitely present for this day. Or so Natsu believed as he stood at the altar.

He shifted on the balls of his feet nervously and fidgeted with his red tie as he waited for the ceremony to start; he hasn’t been so scared in his life… actually he couldn’t even use that statement after all he and Gray had gone through. Gajeel, Loke and Romeo stood next to him calmly; their presence definitely helped to soothe his nerves. Gramps was standing behind the altar (on top of books of course) with the biggest smile on his face; it wasn’t every day that his children got married after all.

After an eternity of waiting, the maids started to walk down the aisle; Erza, Lucy and Wendy walked in a straight line with teary eyes and bouquets of red roses. They were followed by Niall and Toshiro who were the ring bearers; they both had shit-eating grins on their faces and their deep blue eyes shone with true happiness. When the girls and the twins took their positions at the front of the altar, Mirajane stood side by side with Gajeel, who had briefly stepped out of line; they both had microphones in their hands. The sound of a piano rang through the area as the guild members rose to their feet to honour the other groom.

Mirajane started to sing softly,

 _We were strangers starting out on a journey_  
Never dreaming, what we’d have to go through,  
Now here we are, I’m suddenly standing at the beginning with you…

Gray finally showed up at the back door, his head held high and mismatched eyes shining; Natsu had no other words to describe his love other than absolutely beautiful. He barely even registered Gajeel starting his lines,

 _No one told me, I was going to find you_  
Unexpected, what you did to my heart  
When I lost hope, you were there to remind me, this is the start…

Mira and Gajeel’s voices joined together as Gray got closer and closer to Natsu; all their memories playing through their minds as they approached each other. Memories starting from when they first met each other, branching to when they first fell in love with each other, evolving into the relationship they had now; they survived everything, the good and the bad…

 _Life is a road that I wanna keep going_  
Love is a river that I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever, a wonderful journey  
I’ll be there when the world stops turning,  
I’ll be there when the storm is through,  
In the end, I wanna be standing at the beginning with you

 _Knew there was somebody somewhere,_  
A new love in the dark,  
Now I know my dream will live on,  
I’ve been waiting so long,  
Nothing’s going to tear us apart

 _Life is a road that I wanna keep going_  
Love is a river that I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever, a wonderful journey  
I’ll be there when the world stops turning,  
I’ll be there when the storm is through,  
In the end, I wanna be standing at the beginning with you

_Standing at the beginning… with you…_

As the song ended, Gray was standing side by side with the love of his life. Natsu took him by the hand and squeezed it reassuringly. The lovers turned to face Makarov as he started the proceedings,

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two members of Fairy Tail; Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster.

“Natsu, do you take Gray Fullbuster to be your husband; someone to love and to cherish, in sickness and health, for better or for worse, and until death do you part?”

The pinkette turned towards the raven and grasped the cold hands in his own,

“I already have and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.”

“And do you Gray, take Natsu Dragneel to be your husband; someone to love and to cherish, in sickness and health, for better or for worse, and until death do you part?”

“Absolutely; he has my heart and soul as I have his.”

Makarov motioned for the twins to step forward with the rings. Niall turned to his Dad and gave him the ring meant for his Papa while Shiro did vice versa. Taking the rings from their sons, they placed them on each other’s fingers and smiled uncontrollably.

“Without further ado,” Makarov shouted with tears in his eyes, “I pronounce you Mr. and Mr. Drag…”

“I OBJECT!”

FTFTFTFT

Everyone turned in their seats and looked at the backdoor of the guild hall. Standing in the doorway were five men; the one who called out the objection had sharp green eyes and long raven hair. The members of the Fairy Tail immediately jumped to their feet with loathing radiating off them in waves. Natsu stood a little in front of Gray while the ice mage pushed their sons behind the both of them.

“Sellon Gerard and the Annihilation Squad of Fiore,” Makarov bellowed as he jumped off the altar and stalked towards the men murderously, “What are your reasons for being here?!”

“I’d say it’s pretty obvious,” Sellon smirked, “We’re here to collect what we failed to all those years ago.”

“Like hell you are!” Natsu growled dangerously, “I will **not** let you have them!”

“There’s nothing you can do about it **Salamander** ,” Sellon spat, “The Magic Council wants the bearers of the Core of Magic and they shall get them; if not, then Fairy Tail will be disbanded effective immediately.”

“ENOUGH!”

The wind that was gently blowing around the back area quickened and the temperature dropped. Everyone in Fairy Tail knew this feeling and it’s been a long, long time since they felt it. Gray walked out from behind Natsu with his eyes shadowed by his raven hair. The twins tried running to their Papa, but Gajeel, Loke and Erza grabbed onto them to stop them from going anywhere.

“How dare you threaten my family,” Gray growled as lightning cracked through the air, “How dare you come here and ruin what was supposed to be the best day of our lives and threaten our children!”

“I suggest you control yourself Fullbuster, or else we’ll have to take drastic measures.” Sellon warned cockily.

“You know,” Gray muttered darkly as the Earth started to shake and the Water in the river started to rise, “I knew someone like you; someone who was so corrupt that they would stop at nothing to obtain what they wanted. He even used his only son to satisfy his own sick pleasures and even tried to sell him off to gain a few jewels. He even mocked his son for being defiled and broken by another corrupt bastard; want to know what happened to them?!”

“Gray…” Natsu held onto his hand even tighter.

“Prepare to be judged!” Gray shouted as a shockwave erupted from his feet and his raven hair turned white,

“Sellon Gerard fire shall purge the darkness within and water shall purify all of your sins, earth shall ground you as lightning strikes quick, metal shall bind you as ice sees fit; finally wind shall carry your magic away and you shall never use it for the rest of your days!”

Before Sellon could even open his mouth lightning struck him down from the sky and engulfed the back area with a blinding light. When the light cleared, Sellon seemed untouched; the long haired raven laughed maniacally as he started to walk towards the now exhausted Core bearer.

“It looks like it didn’t work Fullbuster!”

Natsu laughed and smirked at Sellon,

“Are you sure, because I can’t sense any magic coming off you at all.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	14. A Step Too Far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is the One thing you're NOT supposed to do around a Mama Bear?

The backyard of the guild hall was shocked into complete silence. The remnants of thunder, crashing waves and strong magical power could be felt swirling around them. Gray leaned heavily on his mate as he struggled to keep his eyes open; now would not be the time to let his guard down. He could practically sense the murderous intent that was rolling off Sellon Gerard; it was something he hoped to never experience ever again. Gray felt Natsu stiffen against him as he also felt the dark intent coming from the ex-mage standing in front of them.

“Erza,” He growled, “Get the boys inside.”

“Natsu?”

“Do what he says,” Gray agreed as he tightened his grip on his dragon slayer’s arm, “Things are about to get ugly.”

“Don’t even think about it Titania.” Sellon scowled, “You move one step and you’ll never hear from Jellal Fernandez ever again.”

A chill swept through the audience at the presence of that threat. Gray’s glare hardened as he heard Erza’s intake of breath somewhere behind him. Judging by the smirk that had spread across the ex-mage’s face, he clearly got what he wanted. In a matter of moments, the sound of clinking armour started to echo around them. Erza walked out from behind them and stood before the Annihilation Squad of Fiore with her hands clenched by her sides.

“What did you just say?” She spat dangerously.

“I’m pretty sure you know exactly what I said Erza Scarlet,” Sellon inspected his nails mockingly, “You do want to see Mr. Fernandez again don’t you?”

“You’re lying!” Erza roared, “He’s nowhere near Magnolia; he left Fiore a long time ago.”

“True, but who’s it to say that the Magic Council hasn’t found him since then.”

It wasn’t too surprising when a bright light engulfed the requip mage’s body. The tension in the backyard was palpable and everyone knew that Erza’s next act would decide what was going to happen. When the light dissipated, Erza was standing before everyone with her Knight armour shining in the midday sun. She raised her sword and pointed it at the now quivering Sellon Gerard.

“I dare you to say that again!”

She went to charge at the Annihilation Squad of Fiore when a small voice stopped her in her tracks,

“AUNTY ERZA STOP! HE’S LYING!”

Niall pushed passed his parents and grabbed onto his godmother’s hand and tried to pull her back. The red haired mage immediately froze in her charge and stared down at the frantic raven who was pulling so desperately on her hand. His wide deep blue eyes were staring up at her fearfully and he looked as if he was on the verge of bursting out into tears.

“He’s lying to you Aunty Erza,” He whimpered, “He wants you to attack him first!”

“How do you…”

“Niall,” Gray called out as he ran towards him tiredly and scooped him up into his arms, “You should’ve stayed with your brother.”

“But Papa I had to tell her!”

“I know; I was going to tell her too.” He assured his son quietly, “Go stand with Shiro and Lucy, okay?”

Niall nodded stiffly and smiled up at his Papa before running towards his brother. Gray then turned to Erza and held onto her hand tightly while Natsu joined him and held onto his waist protectively.

“Gray,” Erza whispered, “How do you and Niall know that?”

“It’s hard to explain…”

“No, it’s not,” Sellon interrupted, “They are abominations and need to be taken to the Magic Council of Fiore to be dealt with appropriately!”

“And how do you intend to do that,” Gray faced him darkly, “I can simply strip your other members of their magic and then you will be completely useless.”

“If you did that, wouldn’t you be just as bad as the ‘bastards’ who hurt you all those years ago?”

“Don’t you DARE pin this on him.” Natsu growled ferociously as the temperature escalated exponentially, “Don’t you DARE put him in the same league as those assholes; they deserved death, Gray does not!”

Gray could feel the old claws for fear and despair clawing at him again, but Natsu’s warmth instantaneously chased those feelings away. Gray focused on what was going on around him and looked over at Sellon and the other members of the squad only to realize that two of the members were missing. His heart started to pound in his chest as darkness once again started to claw at his chest.

His eyes unknowingly settled on Sellon and he noticed the glint of success in his vibrant green eyes. Gray let go of Erza’s hand and ran out of Natsu’s grip and towards the area where Lucy, Loke, Gajeel and the twins were supposed to be. What he saw caused his breath to stop; Gajeel was unconscious with blood pouring down his face and Lucy and the twins were nowhere to be found. In a matter of seconds the clouds and lightning that had recently disappeared spontaneously erupted once more. He turned on his heel and ran straight at Sellon who still wore that smirk on his face. He was almost a breath away when he felt the familiar warm arms wrap around his waist; but this time that warmth was not wanted.

“Where are they?!” Gray roared as lightning crashed overhead, “What did you do with them?!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about Fullbuster.”

“You stole them away from me!” He cried, “I’m going to kill you with my bare hands you bastard!”

“You should know to keep a better eye on your children,” Sellon laughed, “You never know what could happen if you lose track of them for even a second.”

Suddenly the warm arms that were wrapped around him were no longer there. Instead, the spontaneous storm was accompanied with an intense heat that everyone believed that all the plant life was going to burst into flame. Natsu banged his forehead against Sellon’s causing the long haired raven to flinch at the extreme heat pressed against his skin.

“Where are our sons?!” Natsu growled as he entered his dragon force form, “Tell me now or I will turn you into an ash pile.”

FTFTFTFT

Niall clutched onto his older brother for dear life; tears were rolling down his cheeks in rivulets and he couldn’t find the power to stop them. Toshiro was laying on his lap with his eyes closed and his breaths coming out in pained and forced gasps. Through the use of the core, he could tell that Shiro was seriously hurt when they were taken. He hoped that Uncle Gajeel and Uncle Loke were alright; the men just appeared out of thin air and smashed them over the head with something so that no one would notice that they were gone. He glanced over at the other end of the cell they were in and saw that Aunty Lucy was still out cold; he had never felt so alone in his life.

He didn’t know where he was, but he could feel the bumpy road underneath him so he knew that their cell was taking them somewhere; most likely to the Magic Council in Era. Niall suppressed a sob and continued to run his fingers through his brother’s hair rhythmically. Suddenly, he felt the pink hair shift under his hand he held his breath in hopes that his brother was finally waking up. With a grunt, Shiro lifted his head and massaged the headache that laced through it in hopes that it would help it disappear. He glanced around and couldn’t focus on anything that was happening around him.

“S-Shiro,” A small voice whimpered, “Are you okay?”

“Niall, is that you?” He whispered as he lit one of his fingertips aflame.

The small light illuminated his younger twin’s face and he felt anger when he saw all the tears,

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

Niall shook his head frantically and curled up beside Shiro so he could get a better look at his head,

“You were the one they hit, not me.”

“I’m okay.” Shiro tried to smile reassuringly, “I promise.”

Niall nodded hesitantly and leaned his head on his brother’s shoulder. He thought about his parents and more tears started to gather into his eyes,

“Do you think Papa and Dad are going to be okay?”

“Yeah, they’re really strong.” Shiro looked at his twin, “You saw what Papa did to that Silicon guy.”

“But who knows what’s going to happen when they realize we’re gone…”

A shiver travelled simultaneously down their spines as they thought of their Papa when he called on his Core Magic. They hoped that they would never have to see something like that again; they also didn’t want to think about what would happen if he tried to use it again. He was trying to hide it, but the twins were able to tell that their Papa was exhausted; they could tell that if he had tried to use it again, he would be in danger.

“If only we could help them somehow…” Shiro whispered, “There has to be something we can do.”

“If we could connect to the Core like Papa can we would be able to contact him in some way.” Niall sighed in frustration, “But we can’t do it…”

“We should at least try!” Shiro’s eyes shone in determination, “It’s the only chance we have Niall!”

“Okay.” Niall smiled slightly.

They turned so that they were facing each other; deep blue eyes looking into deep blue eyes. Shiro held out his hands for Niall to hold onto which the smaller of the two held onto eager. Almost immediately, a connection of power surged between them causing a warm wind to ruffle their hair. They closed their eyes and searched for the power that was hidden within them; the power to connect with other elemental powers… the power to connect with their Papa.

Niall soon became overwhelmed with not only the scent of a frost, but also that of freshly cut grass and an ocean’s breeze. The image that was produced was something a lot like his home in Hielo, but the frosted pines, green grass and ocean clashing together created something so magical that it couldn’t be real. It possessed everything that was good about Hielo and made it into something that only belonged to him.

Shiro on the other hand was surrounded by the tingling feeling of lightning and the sonic sound of thunder booming in the distance. His internal flame was shining brightly, but combined with the other elements he could sense he was at home; it was like his father was right beside him, telling him that everything was going to be alright. What the two boys weren’t expecting was the soothing wind that appeared when their hands touched also created a bridge between the two worlds. Soon lightning, metal and fire merged with water, earth and ice opening the door between the twins.

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	15. The Cold Fingers of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...I always seem to put him in these situations...  
> ...gotta love the pun though...

“Salamander, I suggest you calm down immediately,” Sellon’s smirk widened, “We don’t want anything unfortunate to happen to your young do you?”

Natsu growled darkly clearly conflicted as he released the green eyed man; he reluctantly stepped away from the bastard and wrapped his arm around his mate so he could comfort the raven in any way that he possibly could. He could feel the slighter body trembling against his own and the elemental power of the Core was being barely suppressed. The weather kept fluctuating around them, but everyone knew that it was probably going to get worse before it got better; Gray was just too emotional to control it. The dragon slayer tightened his grip causing the ice mage to be pressed into his side. The raven calmed down due to the familiar warmth, but it was far from making everything right again.

“Gerard,” Erza glared, “Where are the Dragneel twins and Lucy Heartfilia?!”

“You would want to know that wouldn’t you Titania?” Sellon laughed, “It would be counter-productive for me to reveal that.”

The red haired mage stepped forward with her sword withdrawn and pointed at his neck,

“You owe Niall Dragneel your life! If it weren’t for him you would’ve been killed as soon as you arrived.”

“If you would’ve attacked me Fairy Tail would’ve been instantaneously disbanded and you arrested for treason against the Council as well as obstruction of justice.”

“Obstruction of justice my ass!” Natsu shouted, “We are fighting for the innocent!”

“Innocent?!” Sellon laughed hysterically, “You truly believe that you Fairy Tail misfits are innocent?! Each of you have dark pasts that affect the outcome of Fiore, each of you have demolished someone’s hometown and each of you have KILLED!”

Everyone was silenced at that moment; their dark pasts and guilt threatening to re-emerge and swallow them whole. Even if Sellon Gerard was a pompous asshole, he was right… they had lost control many times and have demolished many cities. They never thought of the consequences their actions brought as long as the town was completely safe. However, they never thought that they were hazardous to the different cities themselves…

“How dare you accuse my children of such heinous crimes?!” Makarov yelled as his magic started to intermingle with Gray’s, “My children have saved Fiore more times than you can count! If it weren’t for them, Fiore wouldn’t even be standing here today!”

“It’s because of _them_ that Fiore is falling apart Makarov!” The raven roared, “Fullbuster was responsible for the death of not only his adoptive brother but the most powerful ice mage in the history of Magic! Scarlet was almost single handed-ly responsible for the lacrima that was created from the Tower of Heaven and nearly destroyed the country! Heartfilia, Redfox, Lockster, Dreyar and the Thunder Tribe all took part in destroying the town of Magnolia. Marvel **revived** Jellal Fernandez and nearly provoked the resurrection of Zeref! The list goes on and on Makarov and there is no way that you’d be able to deny it!”

“It was also my children who put their lives on the line to stop their pasts from destroying the world!” Makarov slowly started to expand into his giant sized self.

“Erza tried to sacrifice herself so that she could save her family and Fiore from what she believed was her mistake; the true mistake was caused by the Magic Council when they fired Etherion! As for Lucy, Gajeel and Juvia, they were not to blame for what happened to Magnolia. Jose Porla convinced Gajeel and Juvia that what they were doing was alright while Lucy was just a victim; the Council should’ve stepped in once they realized how corrupt Porla actually was!

“Yes, my grandson and his friends made a grave mistake, but they have atoned and dedicated their lives into making Fiore a better place. Wendy was also a victim of circumstance, she was forced to choose between the man she loved and saved her over the world; even the Magic Council wouldn’t be able to make that decision. As for Gray, you don’t have the right to blame him for the deaths of Lyon Bastia and Ur Milkovich. He nearly gave up his life to protect an island of strangers as well as Fiore from the wrath of Deliora if it were to be revived! So don’t you **dare** say that my children are murderers!”

The area was silent as Makarov’s now booming voice echoed throughout all of Magnolia. The guild members joined their master’s side and prepared themselves for battle; even though Gray had taken Sellon’s magic, they knew that the green eyed man wasn’t going to give up. Not only that, but they didn’t know what other magic the other two mages from the Annihilation squad possessed.

Gray closed his eyes and reached deep within himself; he could feel the presence of the elemental users in his guild and he had to strengthen them. Just by looking at the two shrouded members of the Squad, he knew that they were extremely powerful. He let the Core within him expand as it started to fill every particle of his being. As if he was in a trance, Gray stepped out of his mate’s embrace and raised his hand to the sky,

“Lightning strikes the sky as frequently as Metal binds, life is the Water’s flow and enriches soil for the Earth to grow, Ice protects the frozen tundra while the Wind strengthens many, Fire is the Light… the strength in us all, now my elements heed my call!”

Gray felt his legs weaken as the power exploded out of him and into the members of his family; it was like he could feel part of himself in each and every one of the elemental users. He felt Natsu’s heat expand behind him and that’s when he knew he succeeded; before long, he could feel Erza and Gajeel (who had now revived), Wendy and Juvia, as well as Laxus and James Slifer. He felt his own magic boost as well, but he wasn’t even sure he would be awake long enough to be able to fight. As if his mate could read his thoughts, he felt his dragon slayer’s arms wrap around his falling body protectively. The sounds of angry shouts and roars reached his ears as his eyes slowly started to drift closed.

“Gray you need to keep your eyes open…”

The raven slowly opened his eyes once more and he found himself staring into Natsu’s onyx ones. The only thing he could think of was… why wasn’t he fighting?

“’Cause you almost killed yourself ice bastard,” Natsu’s voice strained, “Why’d you do that?”

“N-Need to keep you guys safe,” The ice mage muttered, “Those two mages beside Gerard are strong… you need to help them Natsu, they need you.”

“You need me right now love; I can’t leave you.”

Gray dazedly gazed at Natsu and immediately found the fear that lingered in his orbs; the dragon slayer thought he wasn’t going to make it. The raven shakily lifted a hand and placed it on his extremely warm cheek. He could see the fear in the onyx eyes intensify at the similarity of the situation; explosions could be heard around them and Gray was slowly slipping away from Natsu once more.

“I’m not going to die Natsu Dragneel,” Gray whispered softly, “I promise you that I’m not going to leave you alone; Niall and Toshiro need both of us… I don’t want to subject them to our pain.”

Suddenly, a nauseating feeling erupted in the pit of his stomach while his head began to throb painfully. Gray unwillingly convulsed sharply at the pain, causing Natsu to start shouting at him; the raven couldn’t understand what he was saying. All he could feel was an intense want and need for him to go; he sensed fear and sadness. His eyes widened when he realized what was happening, he wasn’t sure if Natsu would understand him, but he had to tell him.

“Niall and Shiro are calling me…” His body shook, “I-I need to go…”

The ice mage shakily pushed himself up and pressed his lips on his lover’s,

“I love you…”

Before Natsu could question him, Gray used the remainder of his strength to push the dragon slayer away from him. In that moment, the familiar magic circle sprung up beneath him and the sensation of riding a roller coaster consumed him before everything went black.

FTFTFTFT

Niall and Toshiro Dragneel could feel the sweat dripping down their faces as they tried to strengthen their call. It was like their Papa was just out of reach; they could feel his presence, but they couldn’t get their minds to connect with his. They clasped each other’s hands tighter as they pushed themselves to their limits. Lucy was still unconscious and they could feel that they were getting closer and closer to their destination; if they didn’t contact their Papa before then, they didn’t even want to think about what would happen to them. Just as they were about to collapse from the mental and physical drain, the compartment they were stored in started to freeze over.

“N-Niall,” Shiro gasped exhaustedly, “That’s not you is it? I’d be really frustrated if it is.”

“N-No… I’m too tired to be doing this; I feel like I could sleep at any second.”

The young pinkette opened his mouth to comment when the magic circle that surrounded them expanded. The room was almost completely covered in ice and their breath could be seen collecting in clouds in front of them. A blinding light engulfed them filling them with a familiar warmth before a loud thud resounded from somewhere in front of them. The twins wrenched their hands from each other immediately disconnecting the Core of Magic. The light slowly dissipated to reveal an exhausted raven haired man lying on his stomach. Is breaths were coming out in sharp pants and his alabaster skin seemed unusually pale.

“P-Papa?” Niall whispered nervously, “I-Is that you?”

The raven haired man grunted before shakily pushing himself onto his knees. Shiro slowly moved around the man so that he could see his face; he could barely suppress the shout of relief when he saw his Papa’s mismatched blue eyes staring up at him exhaustedly. Without a word, the pinkette launched himself at his Papa and wrapped his arms around him tightly. However, he was forced to let go when the frosty coldness of his skin threatened to burn even his arms.

“Niall, something’s wrong.” Shiro tried to touch his Papa again, “He’s as cold as a freaking glacier.”

The small raven raised an eyebrow before reaching out to touch his Papa’s back; like his brother, he was forced to recoil from the extreme coldness that was emitting from their Papa’s body. Shiro watched as the colour drained from his brother’s tanned face as he tried to touch his Papa again.

“What’s wrong with him?” Shiro asked worriedly.

“I-I don’t know,” Niall whimpered, “Maybe it’s the Core doing something…”

“’M okay…” The older raven gasped, “J-Just tired…”

Shiro hesitantly swallowed his hand in flames and reached out to his Papa once more. His eyes locked with Niall’s as if asking if this would be alright; the smaller boy nodded his head slightly as if to say be careful. The pinkette slowly placed his hand on the pale, trembling shoulder before him; he felt the muscles tense under his hand before relaxing slightly.

Gray flipped onto his back, his breathing coming out much easier now. He glanced into the eyes of his frightened children and felt tears gather in his eyes. He lifted a hand and motioned for the twins to come over; that he was going to be alright. They slowly crawled closer to him once more and sat on either side of his body. He sighed as he felt both of them curl up against him and that’s when he knew that he could relax. His sons were alright… they were alive… and when he rested he was going to get them out of there. Already he could feel his sons’ Core rejuvenating his; chasing away the cold touches of Death that had threated to consume him.

“A-Are you guys alright?” His voice cracked slightly, “Did they do anything to you?”

“No,” Niall whispered as he nuzzled into his Papa’s side, “I’m fine, but they hit Shiro over the head pretty hard and Aunty Lucy is still unconscious.”

“Shiro?” Gray called out again in concern, “Is your head okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry Papa,” The pinkette mumbled, “Ni made sure I was okay.”

“Do you know where we’re going?” Gray whispered, “Or how long you’ve been travelling?”

“We think we’re going to Era,” Shiro mumbled again, “And it feels like we’ll be there soon; we’ve been travelling a while…”

A grunt from the far side of the compartment cut him off. All three of them slowly pushed themselves up to see that Lucy was holding her head and looking around herself in confusion. She ran her hand through her mused golden blonde hair and began to mumble incoherently under her breath. Gray strained his ears and it sounded like she was cursing someone about something or other.

“Lucy, are you okay?”

The celestial mage jumped and her jaw dropped when she saw that Gray was with the twins,

“Oh god, this wasn’t part of the plan…”

“Plan…” Gray growled as he shoved his sons behind him protectively, “What plan?!”

“G-Gray, just hear me out,” Her voice shook nervously, “Don’t get mad, okay?”

“TELL ME NOW!”

Suddenly, whatever they were riding in came to an immediate stop. All four of them lurched forward and banged into the far wall. Gray quickly gathered his bearings and pushed his sons behind him once more. They clung onto his sides tightly as they gazed at both Lucy and the door warily. Gray never took his eyes of the celestial mage until the door to their prison opened, showering them in light. The hooded men who took the twins were standing in the door, they faces shrouded in shadow.

“Who are you?!” Gray demanded angrily.

The wind still called to his emotions despite his exhaustion and pushed the hoods off the men’s faces. Gray’s eyes widened almost comically and his mouth went completely dry when he saw who was standing before him…

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	16. Betrayal and Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And it's dawn of the living dead! ;)  
> Not really, but you get my drift LOL

No matter how hard he tried, there was no way he was going to be able to shut his mouth. He couldn’t tear his eyes off the two people standing before him at that very moment. He clutched his sons against his side even tighter and refused to break eye contact. The wind that lifted the hoods off the members of the Annihilation Squad still lingered threateningly as if showing everyone that it still existed and could be used to attack at any given time. Briefly, his blue eyes drifted over to the celestial mage beside him who was twisting her hands in her maid’s dress nervously. He couldn’t believe it… one of his closest friends had betrayed him and tried to take away his sons…

Tried to take away Natsu’s sons…

After everything the dragon slayer had done for her… she stabs him in the back.

“You were part of this all along?” Gray whispered dangerously, “All **three** of you!”

“Gray, it’s not what it looks like…” Lucy tried nervously.

“Not what it looks like?!” Gray roared angrily, “You kidnapped my sons and you’re taking them to Era! I trusted you! I trusted every single one of you and you betrayed me!”

All three of them visibly flinched at the ice mage’s tone, especially the masked members of the Squad that terrorized his dreams for the past eight years. Gray fought back the tears that gathered in his eyes and rebuilt the walls that Natsu spent all those years unthawing. Fearfully, the twins watched as their father’s blue eyes hardened and became next to unreadable; but they continued to hold onto him, hoping that they would act as the anchor that would keep him together.

Gray shifted his gaze to the once hooded men and thickened his walls. The first was pale skinned with vibrant blue hair that ended a little under his ears. His deep brown eyes seemed to be regarding him sympathetically, but Gray knew that it was fake. The tattoo that rested above and under his right eye is what made him truly believe that Jellal Fernandez was the mage standing in front of him.

The other hooded man was a little harder to believe; he possessed the same gravity defying silvery-white hair, sharp onyx eyes and alabaster skin. The only difference was there were little faint scars covering every inch of his body that could be seen. The raven didn’t know if he would be able to recover from something like this…

He couldn’t recover from something like this…

“Gray, you have to listen to us…” Jellal said soothingly, “We can explain everything…”

“Go to hell Fernandez!” The raven spat, “What would Erza say if she were here, huh?! You told her that you changed you fucking asshole!”

“I _have_ changed,” The bluenette whispered calmly, “We’re doing this for your sons.”

“He’s telling the truth…”

“You!” Gray’s gaze turned to the white haired man, “Don’t you dare talk in his voice or using his face! Don’t. You. **Dare**!”

“That’s kind of impossible, when it is me Gray.” Lyon pleaded, “You have to believe me…”

“I watched my brother **die**! No matter what you say to me to try and prove that you’re my brother I will never believe you!” The ice mage barely suppressed the sob that tried to escape, “Ice Shell cannot be reversed without killing the caster, every ice mage knows that! Lyon would know that… he witnessed it himself!”

“I know that,” The man who claimed to be Lyon argued, “But Jellal and Lucy were able to help me.”

“Then what about Shadowsky?!” Gray demanded angrily, “If Ice Shell were truly reversible, then Deliora would be free once more!”

“Listen to me Gray,” Lyon pleaded, “It took ten years for Ur to kill our Deliora and it’s been eleven years since I sealed Shadowsky; he’s gone for good, I promise…”

The raven wanted to believe the man standing in front of him, but he couldn’t get himself to do it. He spent years grieving over his brother, years trying to forgive himself for causing his brother’s death only to have someone claiming to be Lyon standing in front of him. The floorboards of their ‘cell’ creaked as someone started to move towards him,

“Don’t come near me!” Gray roared causing the temperature to drop and the wind to dance threateningly.

“It’s him Gray!” Lucy cried with tears gathering in her eyes, “I freed him myself, I would know!”

“Even if it is him, why are you taking my sons to Era!” The raven cried, “It makes it ten times worse that my own brother wants to hand his own nephews over to the Magic Council!”

“That’s not what we’re doing.” Lyon ran his hand through his hair, “We were taking them to safety. We infiltrated the Annihilation Squad six months ago; we were preparing for the time when Gerard would want to take you and your sons away.”

Gray glanced to all three of his ‘friends’,

“Why didn’t you tell me this beforehand?”

“We didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves,” Jellal explained, “If you, Natsu and everyone else knew we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off. We needed to make sure that we held all the cards.”

“Then why the hell did you knock my son out?” Gray growled.

Jellal flinched again and looked away from the fuming raven,

“He was going to draw too much attention…”

“So you hit my son over the head?!”

A small blush of embarrassment spread across his cheeks and he moved away from the doorway and out of the raven’s eye sight. Gray relaxed slightly and let his children move from his side if they wanted to. Shiro moved away from his Papa and walked to Lucy because even though she was part of this entire scheme she is still his family. Niall, however, stayed by his Papa’s side and glanced from Lyon to his Papa. He latched onto his Papa’s hand to gain his attention and immediately succeeded. Gray’s blue eyes looked into his and Niall was saddened when he saw how guarded his Papa actually was.

“You should talk to him.” Niall whispered sadly, “I know you want to Papa.”

“I don’t think I can…” Gray muttered.

“But you know it’s him!” Niall argued, “I can tell!”

“You’re too young to understand; I want to talk to him, but I’m not ready yet.” The older raven said sadly.

“But Papa!”

“Drop it right now Niall Lyon Dragneel.” Gray’s eyes narrowed, “I’ll deal with him after this is over and done with.”

FTFTFTFT

Niall regarded his father sadly and sighed in defeat; he knew from experience that his Papa was stubborn, but he didn’t think he was this bad. He opened his mouth to try and argue some more to see that his Papa had his eyes closed and his chest was rising and falling softly; he had finally fallen asleep. With one last glance at his Papa, Niall moved away and walked towards the lone white haired man still standing in the doorway of the carriage they were in.

Just by looking at him, Niall knew that the man standing in front of him was his Uncle. He was just as Papa had described him, only a little more ragged than he imagined. The smaller boy slowly made it over to man and leaned beside him silently as not to disturb his Uncle from his train of thought.

“You sure your Papa would like it if you were over here?”

Niall glanced up and saw an onyx eye watching him carefully. The raven merely shrugged and looked away from the inquiring gaze,

“Yeah, he knows it’s you, but he’s scared that you’ll leave him again.”

“Sounds like him,” Lyon sighed, “I wish I didn’t make him suffer like that…”

“He’s okay,” Niall said sadly, “Dad helped him a lot you know… he did exactly what you said.”

Lyon raised an eyebrow,

“What do you mean?”

“You told my Dad that he wasn’t allowed to leave Papa alone and he never did. Even when they were separated over those eight years, Dad always made sure that Papa wasn’t alone.”

Niall smiled when he noticed the relieved look that past over his uncle’s face,

“I’m going to have to say thank you to the pink haired idiot then… that is if he doesn’t kill me for this.”

“Nah,” Niall smiled softly, “Dad will probably be happy because Papa will truly be happy again; he will finally be able to forgive himself.”

Lyon placed his hand on Niall’s head and ruffled the soft raven hair under his fingers. It was as if he was looking at an eight year old Gray who was just pulled out of the rubble only a little darker. However, if he were to look closer he could definitely see Natsu in the young raven’s face. The same determination and fire were in his eyes; the same look Natsu had shown him over eleven years ago on Galuna Island when he was fighting for the village and fighting for Gray. Lyon’s eyes drifted over to the smaller pinkette beside Lucy and that’s when he knew he was looking at Natsu’s duplicate; those two were exactly the same.

“Thank you Niall,” Lyon whispered, “That means a lot.”

Niall wrapped his arms around Lyon’s middle and squeezed him tightly,

“I hope I see you around a lot when this is over, you have no more excuses!”

Lyon chuckled,

“I promise…”

“NATSU!”

Niall and Lyon’s head snapped towards Gray and noticed that he was wide eyed and glancing around frantically. Lyon moved out of his nephew’s arms and ran towards his brother even if he wasn’t wanted. He gathered the trembling mage in his arms and he could feel Gray’s heart beating rapidly in his chest. Lyon was aware of the twins, Lucy and Jellal hovering over the both of them worriedly; the tension was palpable.

“Gray, what’s wrong?” Lyon demanded, “Tell me…”

“S-Something’s wrong…” Gray whispered shakily, “I-I think we’re losing…”

“Breathe,” Lyon urged softly, “You need to calm down.”

“B-But we’re losing… the guild is losing…”

“How do you know the guild is losing?” Jellal interrupted, “What’s happening?”

“E-Erza and Laxus, Gajeel and Wendy, James and Juvia, t-there elements returned to me…” Gray choked, “G-Gramps has even been defeated…”

“He’s lost…” Shiro whispered.

Everyone’s eyes turned from the quivering ice mage to the young fire mage. His deep blue eyes were filling with tears and Niall was latched onto his hand, his face as white as snow. Both the young bodies were trembling almost as bad as their Papa was and that worried the three adult mages just as much.

“What do you mean he’s lost?” Lucy knelt in front of the twins.

“Dad…” Shiro sobbed, “He just lost…”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire carriage was showered in an explosive light. When the light disappeared, the six mages were nowhere to be found…

FTFTFTFT

Natsu sat frozen on his knees and stared blankly at the area where his ice mage was just sitting. The only thing comforting him about his disappearance was that he was going to find their sons, the bad thing was Gray was practically dead in his arms just moments ago. As soon as he felt his fire strengthen deep inside him, he knew that his ice mage was in serious danger because if the incantation made him stronger that means he made the other bearers of those certain elements were made stronger too; he had stretched his power far too thin, especially with all the elemental users in their guild.

“Flame head look out!” Gajeel shouted.

At the last second, Natsu leapt out of the way and nearly avoided being hit by a sword. He called his flames to his hands and lunged at his attacker who happened to be one of the hooded men. He swung his flaming fist at the hooded figure but his hand went straight through and the figure disappeared into nothingness before his eyes.

“What the hell…”

“NATSU BEHIND YOU!”

The dragon slayer ducked quickly only to have a sword swipe above his head. He sent his flames to his feet and went to swipe hooded man’s legs. This time, he was actually able to make a hit and sent the figure flying; however, his victory was short lived when the man disappeared again before making contact with the ground. Natsu glanced around himself to search for the bastard and felt his mouth drop open in shock.

His entire family was fighting as to be expected, but a majority of them were fighting the exact same opponent he was. Cana was struggling but was holding her own as well as Alzack, Bisca, Nab, Jet, Droy, Levy, and other members of the guild. Gajeel, Laxus, Erza, Wendy, Juvia and James were fighting the other hooded man and he was using a bit of every single element.

Making a quick decision, he made eye contact with Laxus, Gajeel and Wendy which they met right away. Natsu jumped into the sky and pushed his flames into his feet so he could get into the air while Laxus, Wendy and Gajeel also used their dragon slayer abilities to get into the air. Simultaneously with the other’s attacks on the ground, the dragon slayers brought their hands to their mouths;

“FIRE DRAGON’S ROAR!”

“IRON DRAGON’S ROAR!”

“WIND DRAGON’S ROAR!”

“LIGHTNING DRAGON’S ROAR!”

“HEAVEN’S WHEEL!”

“EARTH’S ENCASEMENT!”

“WATER BEAM!”

The seven elements crashed into the man standing in the middle immediately engulfing him in immense magical power. The ground shook dangerously nearly throwing everyone off their feet and destroying the backyard in the process. When the smoke cleared, the man was still standing straight in the middle with a maniacal grin on his face. He raised his hands above his head and a bright light engulfed the palms of his hands,

“MIRROR MAGIC ULTIMATE STYLE: ELEMENTAL SHOCK!”

Before the Fairy Tail guild could even think, the collection of elemental energy rebounded and fired back at them once again swallowing the back area in light. When the light died, the entire Fairy Tail guild was on their backs; no one possessed the strength to get back on their feet; Even Master Makarov was down for the count and that was a feat in itself. Natsu struggled to push himself to his feet, but only made it onto his hands and knees before a heavy weight pressed down on his back. The dragon slayer braced all the weight on shaky limbs, but refused to go down; he wasn’t about to leave Gray alone, not now and not ever.

“Well, well, well…” Sellon Gerard chuckled triumphantly, “How the mighty have fallen eh Salamander?”

“Shut your mouth shitface,” Natsu smirked as blood dribbled out of the corner of his lips, “We’re not done yet.”

“I beg to differ Dragneel; your entire guild has fallen, including Titania, Dreyar and your guild Master.”

“But you have yet to defeat Gray and when he returns, nothing is going to stop him from killing you, not even me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong…” Sellon laughed darkly, “Your death will definitely stop him from killing me… after all there’s not much he can do when his own mate was murdered because of him.”

“That’s where **you’re** wrong… someone will make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“And who would that be?”

“Lyon Bastia.”

Sellon snarled from above him and Natsu’s smirk widened to a full out smile. That smile never left as he heard the sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath. He remained relaxed as he waited for the sword, he knew Gray would come; even if it was too late for him, Gray would come and save the rest of the guild and finally stop the Magic Council… he finally had the chance to be happy…

He just wished he got the chance to hold him one last time…

“Clearly, you’re delusional Natsu Dragneel because Lyon Bastia is dead and your mate was the one who killed him!” Sellon yelled, “Now it’s time that Gray Fullbuster pays the price for his past transgressions!”

He barely felt it…

It was a sharp pain, but he numbed in an instant…

The only thing he felt was the warmth gathering on the front of his shirt…

The only thing he regretted was that he couldn’t tell Gray that he loved him and that he was sorry that he wasn’t strong enough…

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	17. In The Wake of Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who Will Stand When Everyone Else Has Fallen?

When the light cleared… There was nothing left…

The guild hall was almost completely in ruin; the only reason why it was standing was probably because the spirit of Fairy Tail itself has its own magic. Different parts of the area had burst into flames, while in other areas the ground were cracked open like an egg shell. But, what caught his eyes first were the insurmountable amount of bodies that littered the dusty ground. The bodies of his comrades…his friends… his family…the ground was stained with their blood never to be removed again.

Even if the rain were to wash away the red, Gray would forever have the image in his head. Fear gripped his chest as he tried to find his pink haired dragon slayer; he found Wendy, Laxus, Gajeel, Juvia, James and Erza, but Natsu wasn’t with them like he thought he would be. He was faintly aware of his sons holding onto his hands and Jellal, Lucy and Lyon standing behind him; he could hear Lucy’s suppressed sobs and he could feel Jellal’s fear almost as much as his own.

Gray continued to search for his dragon slayer, but he still couldn’t find him. He closed his eyes and tried to find him through his link. In the back of his mind he could feel his mate’s presence, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location. When he opened his eyes once more, his eyes immediately found a pink head.

Relief filled him until he saw who was standing over the fallen dragon slayer. The sun shone down on the dragon slayer and the leader of the Annihilation Squad like a spotlight; the faint rays reflected off the edge of the blade in Gerard’s hand causing Gray’s heart to nearly stop beating. Just as he was about to run to his lover, the sword came down and buried itself through Natsu’s chest.

“NO!”

The ice mage yanked his hands out of his sons’ and went to run to his mate only to have firm arms wrap around his waist keeping him back. He struggled against the arms, but they refused to let up. It felt like the world was coming to an end… without Natsu, there was no light… without Natsu… he was nothing. He could hear Niall and Toshiro sobbing hysterically in the background along with Lucy and most likely Jellal. Gray felt drops of water falling on his head like rain, but he knew they were the tears of Lyon Bastia. On the verge of hyperventilating, the ice mage still tried to break out of his older brother’s grip, but his legs were getting weaker and weaker…

“It seems that you were too late Gray Fullbuster.”

Gray’s head snapped up and a growl escaped his throat; he may feel like a part of him had died, but that bastard was going to pay…

“He was begging for mercy until the very end,” Sellon continued as he walked towards the only mages standing, “The entire guild _begged_ for me to spare them, but the strong will always kill the weak.”

“YOU’RE LYING!”

“How would you know Fullbuster?” Sellon smirked, “You abandoned your comrades, your lover, in the midst of battle… and because of that he is dead.”

“That’s not true…” He put his head down so his raven hair was covering his eyes.

“I say it’s pretty evident that that is what happened here.” The older raven spat impatiently.

A cold wind started to whip around the battleground angrily; the scent of blood enhanced by its purity. Lighting, thunder and rain coated the sky like a blanket as they danced across the darkened atmosphere in an attempt to cleanse the evil that had tainted the soil of Fairy Tail. The earth began to sow itself back together like a patch work quilt; reconnecting the separated ground into a whole.

Finally, a soothing warmth flowed throughout the area, spreading, protecting and strengthening those who needed it; life was slowly being given to the once dying area. Gray clenched his fists at his sides and stalked towards the now silent and wary Sellon Gerard who seemed to be watching him with a calculating gaze.

“You can say I am responsible for the fall of my nakama and for the fall of my mate; I agree with you on the respect. If I had given in to the Magic Council all those years ago, we could’ve avoided this and everyone would be living their lives the way they were expected to…”

“Gray don’t…” Lyon whispered.

“But… I do know even if I were to go with you all those years ago, that stubborn jackass that I call flame brain would’ve came and got me back without hesitation. The entire guild would go down fighting to protect their own with bravery and honour. That is why when you say that ‘they went down begging’ I know that you’re a lying piece of shit!”

“Papa…” Niall and Toshiro whispered in unison.

“The Council spent the last eleven years fearing the Core of Magic,” Gray whispered as he stopped in front of Gerard, “Well now… they have a reason to.”

As the words left his mouth, his hair bleached to pure white and his eyes became the recognizable kaleidoscope of colours that was associated with the Core; the eyes that struck fear into the Council’s hearts… the eyes of a demon. The ice mage turned his head slightly to address the mages standing behind him. His sons were gazing up at him with a mix of awe and worry; tears had glazed their deep blue eyes and their cheeks were slightly swollen from the tears that had already fallen.

“Lyon, Jellal, Lucy,” He whispered as he buried his grief temporarily, “Protect the twins and make sure everyone is alright… make sure that they don’t see **him** , but check to see if he’s okay.”

“Gray…” Lucy whimpered.

“Do as I say,” He looked deep into Lyon’s eyes, “Please.”

Lyon seemed hesitant for a moment, but the resolve in his younger brother’s eyes pushed him to say yes. He gathered the twins into his arms and started to back away; the twins immediately began to protest and reach out to their Papa, but Lyon held onto them tightly. Gray drowned out Niall and Toshiro’s cries and focused his attention back on his enemy. As their eyes clashed, rage bubbled within him. He felt his left arm emit frost as per usual, but his right arm was swallowed in intense flames; flames that greatly resembled those of his dragon slayer. Gerard jumped back in surprise causing a smirk to spread across Gray’s face.

“Let me help you.”

The Core bearer turned his head to the side and Jellal was standing beside him prepared for battle. Gray shook his head defiantly,

“I need you to help Lyon and Lucy…”

“With the twins and Lucy’s vast amount of Celestial spirits they won’t need me,” Jellal countered easily, “Besides, if this bastard and the rest of the squad were able to take down all of Fairy Tail, including Titania, your Master and Four Dragon Slayers, then something is obviously wrong.”

Gray seemed to hesitate slightly, but he nodded his ascent. Jellal smiled as he gathered his magic within him,

“Not only that, I owe Natsu Dragneel as well as many others my life; so I will protect the people he cares about most.”

“Let’s do this!” Gray shouted as he charged at Gerard.

“FOR FAIRY TAIL!”

FTFTFTFT

Lyon didn’t try to put the twins down until they were far from the battle. The sound of explosions could be heard behind them, but he tried his best to ignore them. It didn’t prove too difficult when he had to focus on making sure the twins didn’t try to run to Gray’s aid. Lyon was able to grab onto Toshiro just as he was about to run by; he flinched slightly at the heat that was radiating off him, but he continued to hold on. As he struggled with Toshiro, Niall had managed to run past him; luckily, Lucy had enough insight to summon her spirit Leo who held onto the small ice mage just as tightly.

“Let us go!” Toshiro shouted out the top of his lungs, “We have to save Dad and Papa!”

“You need to calm down!” Lyon growled impatiently, “Stop acting like your hot headed father and listen goddamnit!”

“B-But we have to help them!” The pinkette cried as tears ran down his cheeks, “We just found each other again… I don’t want to lose them!”

The white haired man’s eyes softened at the sight of the tears. He loosened his hold on the young boy’s arms briefly before pulling him into a tight embrace. His heart broke at each heart wrenching sob that fell out of the young boy’s lips and each warm tear that traced down his cold neck. He glanced over at Leo and noticed that he was doing the same thing with Niall; for the first time the two men were at a loss for what to do.

“Niall, Shiro,” Lucy whispered sadly, “Come here.”

Lyon and Leo both hesitantly relinquished their hold on the boys, but they did exactly as they were told. As soon as they were free, the twins ran over to Lucy and wrapped their arms tightly around her. She kissed the tops of their heads softly as a form of comfort before putting them at arm’s length to look them in the eyes.

“I understand that you want to help your Papa and Jellal, but if you run into battle now you might end up hurting yourselves or them on accident,” Lucy reasoned softly, “Imagine what your Papa would do if you guys were hurt as well…”

The twins looked away from her sadly, but she placed her hands under their chins to make them look her in the eyes,

“You can help your Papa by helping us. We need to make sure that everyone is alright and if some of them are capable of fighting…”

“What about Dad?” Shiro whispered tearfully, “I-Is he…”

“No.” Lyon answered for her.

“But how do you know Uncle Lyon?!” Niall whimpered, “Dad was… he w-was…”

“Listen to me,” Lyon ordered, “Your Dad is one of the strongest and most loyal man I know; your Dad will stay alive simply because he knows he is needed, by both your Papa and you two. Have faith in your old man; you’ve heard about what they’ve accomplished haven’t you?”

The boys nodded simultaneously as small, determined smiles started to spread across their faces. Their cheeks were still soaked with tears, they were afraid and confused, but they **knew** that their parents would be alright. They knew that their parents were strong and would do everything in their power to stay by their side forever. Lyon smiled at the twins before turning to Lucy and Leo, the two older mages looked at him expectantly… apparently they had appointed him leader…

No pressure…

“Okay,” he cleared his throat, “We should check on your guys’ team before the rest of the guild; since your team is considered the strongest, if they’re capable enough they’ll be able to help Gray and Jellal out. After that we’ll check the other guild members… Lucy, how many celestial spirits can you summon at a time?”

“Uhm,” She muttered thoughtfully, “It depends, but since we’re not actually in battle, I should be able to summon more than normal.”

“Good.” Lyon nodded, “Summon as many as you can and then we can check on more members. Leo…”

“Just call me Loke,” The lion rolled his eyes, “Jeez, you even had that problem eleven years ago.”

Lyon sighed,

“Will you check on dumbass and see if he’s okay?”

Loke nodded slightly and turned to Lucy,

“Is it okay if I take Capricorn and Gemini with me?”

“Yeah, that would probably be best.” Lucy agreed as she summoned the last of her spirits.

Lyon looked down at the twins who were glancing up at him expectantly. The ice mage sighed and ran his hand through his hair worriedly as another explosion rocked through them. He clasped his hands on their shoulders to try and keep them balanced.

“You two are going to come with me and Lucy to check on everyone,” He told them, “You’re not allowed to leave my side no matter what you see or hear, do you understand?”

“Promise.” They whispered.

“Okay, let’s do this!”

FTFTFTFT

Gray choked on the dust as he was sent flying into the ground. The air was knocked right out of him as his body impacted; he was pretty sure a small crater was left behind. He pushed himself to his feet exhaustedly and staggered slightly as he tried to right himself. He managed to dodge just as the hooded man with the sword dived at him again. Sensing a presence behind him he ducked just as another blade swiped over his head. He quickly checked out his surroundings and noticed that Sellon Gerard was sitting pretty as the two hooded men attacked him and Jellal…

Something wasn’t right…

He managed to move out of the way just as sword impacted the ground where he was previously standing. He tripped over his feet and ended up hitting back to back with none other than Jellal. He was also breathing heavily, and exhaustion could be seen in his movements; while Gray only had to deal with swords and multiplying, Jellal had to deal with a mage who could recreate someone else’s magic and use it.

Jellal’s Heaven Magic is rare, so it’s next to impossible to learn, but somehow this bastard was mastering it and using it in seconds. Another thing that crossed Gray’s mind was why did the other members of the Squad keep their hoods up; it didn’t make any sense. The raven glanced over at Gerard and noticed that the smirk was still there and he hadn’t even tried anything yet…

“No way!” Gray spat as he and Jellal ducked to avoid a sword.

“What’s up?” Jellal asked curiously.

“It’s fucking doppelganger magic and a spell lock!” The raven roared.

“So you finally figured it out Fullbuster?” Sellon cackled, “I sure fooled you and the dumbass lizard didn’t I?”

“Don’t you dare talk about him.” He growled dangerously, “You don’t have the right to!”

“Even so,” Gerard smirked, “I’ll win this battle; doppelganger magic is the enemy of elemental magic as well as many others!”

Gray opened his mouth to retort, but was forced to duck when Sellon’s two hooded doppelgangers attacked Jellal and him simultaneously. He heard the bluenette hiss in pain as a sword managed to get passed him and strike Jellal’s shoulder. At that exact moment, Gray was forced to his knees when some of Jellal’s Heaven Magic struck him in the abdomen. He gagged as blood flew out of his throat and soaked the ground in front of him.

“Gray!”

“’M okay…” Gray gasped as he applied a coat of ice to his wound, “I’ve suffered worse.”

Just then the doppelgangers became distorted like a mirage before returning to Sellon himself. Immediately Gray sensed the magic within the older raven and it made his skin crawl; the bastard sealed his magic when he tried to capture it with the Core. Gray never noticed because he felt empty, but that’s because the doppelgangers were essentially their own person. This caused another question to come to his mind,

“If those two members of your Squad were doppelgangers, what happened to the members from eight years ago?”

Sellon smiled,

“They had a little… shall we say accident?”

Gray felt the colour drain from his face as he stared at the man… no, monster… standing in front of him. It was obvious that this monster had murdered his subordinates at some point… was it because they had failed to apprehend him all those years ago?

“Any way, enough talk,” Sellon raised his hand and scowled darkly, “Let’s end this Gray Fullbuster!”

Gray gathered the elements residing within him just as an assortment of magic gathered around Gerard’s hand. The raven could still feel Jellal standing beside him and for that he was grateful; he knew that he would still need him…

“Mirror Magic Ultimate Style: Heavenly Elemental Shock!”

“Ultimate Elemental Style…” Gray whispered as the cacophony of power rocketed towards him, “Core Explosion!”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	18. The Final Seal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dust Begins to Settle and Finally Peace Might be Found

Loke forced himself to ignore the screams of pain and the explosions that rocketed through the magic-induced overcast sky. He could feel Capricorn and Gemini’s increasing unease as they moved through the unconscious bodies of their fellow guild mates. They wanted to stop and help each and every one of them, but they knew that right now Natsu was the top priority; if the fire dragon slayer died all hell was sure to break lose… not only from Gray, but from every single mage in Fairy Tail.

Natsu’s light reached every single one of them at one point or another; he was the very soul of the guild and if that were to suddenly disappear, nothing would ever be the same. Loke ran his hands through his strawberry blonde hair anxiously as he searched for any sign of the pink haired idiot.

“Capricorn, have you seen him at all?” He forced out through clenched teeth.

“That would be a negative…” The goat grunted as he continued to survey the area behind his black sunglasses.

“Gemini?”

The girl tilted her head to the side in thought,

“I can sense him, but he’s fading quickly… if we don’t find him soon…”

“Let’s not go there.” Loke interrupted as he continued to move forward, “We should split up so we can cover more ground; only use magic if you absolutely have to, just in case Lucy needs us later.”

“Hai Leo-sama!” Gemini saluted mockingly before turning away.

Capricorn simply grunted in agreement before leaving Loke by himself. The king of the Celestial spirits pressed forward making sure to keep an eye out. His thoughts wandered over to Lucy and the others; he worried about them the most. Sure, he should be worrying about Gray and Jellal, but those two could handle themselves. Not that Lucy can’t handle herself, but she is spreading her magic fairly thin by summon all her spirits like she did.

He also worried about the twins because he knew that at any sign of their Papa being in danger those two would go running in without a second thought; a trait that _everyone_ wished they would not inherit… their parents were bad enough! As for Lyon… he didn’t even want to get started on him it was that bad.

“L-Loke…”

The lion spirit froze at the sound of the familiar voice and his heart swelled at that very moment. His gaze wandered over to the remains of the once mighty guild hall and saw the tell-tale sakura coloured hair amongst the rubble. Without a second thought, Loke bolted towards the barely conscious dragon slayer lying on his stomach.  He actually had to fight off a flinch when he saw all the blood pooling around his comrade’s body; the blade that Gerard had skewered him with was still deep in his chest. Loke dropped to his knees beside his friends and touched his shoulder gently to let the dragon slayer know he was there.

“Natsu can you hear me?”

“Mhm,” Natsu grunted as he tried to lift his exhausted body onto all fours, “L-Loud and clear.”

Loke sighed in relief and opened his mouth to speak when Natsu abruptly cut him off,

“I thought I heard Gray before I passed out… are they alright?”

“They’re fine…” Loke’s voice trailed off.

“Loke?”

“We need to get this sword out of you so your dragon attributes can start that whole speed healing thing.” He changed the subject and avoided Natsu’s inquiring gaze.

“Tell me!” Natsu ordered before coughing up some blood from the exertion.

“I will, but we need to get this taken care of first you stubborn idiot.” Loke argued persistently, “You won’t be much help if you’re bleeding to death.”

Loke forced himself not to roll his eyes when Natsu grumbled under his breath. The lion slowly got to his feet and placed his hands on the hilt of the sword. Despite the chilly air circulating around them, sweat started to gather on his brow. He noticed as the pinkette’s back and shoulders shook with extreme and tension; there was no way that this selfless man deserved any of the shit that he had to put up with… both him and Gray respectively.

“Okay, this might hurt…” Loke bit his lip, “…a lot.”

Natsu chuckled dryly before coughing,

“I’ve been through worse, trust me.”

Loke had to agree with that one; the pinkette has been pretty banged up in the past. The first thing that popped into his head was when Natsu fought Laxus, the poor teen was in bandages from head to toe; he couldn’t even participate in the Fantasia properly. The lion grasped the hilt of the sword even tighter and held his breath as he wrenched the blade out in one tug. Natsu gasped and clenched as his fists curled into the dirt covered ground. He was only on all fours for a moment longer before he fell to the side.

“S-Shit…”

Loke’s face paled when he realized the reason for Natsu’s curse; the wound wasn’t closing. He quickly regarded the blood stained blade and noticed the glowing runes on the once stainless steel. He tossed it to the side and fell to his knees beside Natsu again before tearing off his suit jacket and placing it over the dragon slayer’s gaping wound. He applied pressure to the hole in his friend’s chest causing the pinkette grunt in pain. The normally tanned skin of the dragon slayer was paling quickly as more blood soaked through his jacket staining his hands with the warm substance.

“Shit…Shit…Shit…Shit!” Loke growled as he tried to apply more pressure.

A sob escaped his throat as a still warm hand grasped his wrist tightly,

“It’s going to be okay Loke…”

“NO!” The lion spat, “No, it’s not! You’re dying you damn idiot!”

“You need to watch…”

“Don’t you even **think** of saying that Natsu Dragneel!” Loke shouted desperately, “I won’t need to watch them because you will; you’re going to live!”

A small smile spread across the dragon slayer’s bluing lips… that same smile he gave to his friends, his enemies and everyone whom he was willing to give his life to save. The warm, inviting smile that told everyone that it was alright to continue living; that reassuring smile that told everyone that everything was going to work out in the end simply because he said so. Slowly, the onyx eyes began to close and Loke knew it was for the last time; he would never be able to face Gray again…

**“Ultimate Elemental Style: Core Explosion!”**

_GRAY?!_

An immense magical pressure engulfed the destroyed Fairy Tail Guild and the fallen members. Loke’s eyes travelled over to Natsu and noticed that his body was on fucking fire! Yeah, sure he was pretty used to seeing this, but the fire dragon slayer definitely didn’t have enough energy to call on his flames one last time. He watched in awe as the wound on his friend’s stomach slowly closed, the only sign of its existence was the dark splotches of blood on Natsu’s dress shirt.

“What the FUCK!” Loke screamed in disbelief as he turned behind him.

He could see Fairy Tail’s strongest team rising to their feet once more. The only reason he could see them from such a distance was because like Natsu, they all had strange coloured flames dancing all over them. Loke’s eyes once again connected with Natsu who was now standing shakily on his feet with a strange glint in his eye.

“I’m going to punch him in the face when this is over…” Natsu muttered as he took off towards the other members of his team.

Loke sat in the exact same position, until his mind finally caught up with what he was seeing. With a shake of his head he cleared the intruding thoughts before taking off after the retreating back of the dragon slayer. He was happy that Natsu was alive, but the only question that seemed to run through his mind was what price did Gray have to pay?

FTFTFTFT

Gray stumbled from the power that escaped him, but quickly wrapped his arm around Jellal’s neck before pulling him to the ground. Gerard’s Heavenly Elemental Doppelganger magic flew just over their heads and struck one of the far off trees in the forest. His hair ruffled as the magic pressure sailed right over him; when he was sure that the danger was temporarily avoided he took a deep breath. He was relieved to find that his original ice magic still resided him even though the ice magic of the core had just left him. He wanted to go to sleep, but he knew that it wasn’t the time for that.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet and he could feel Jellal doing the same from beside him. His gaze never left Gerard’s and he couldn’t help but smirk when he saw the death glare that was ever present on the bastard’s face. Gray crossed his arms over his chest and leaned some of his weight on Jellal, but not enough for Gerard to actually notice how exhausted he truly was.

“What’s the matter Gerard?” He grinned, “Upset that I figured out how you’re doppelganger magic works?”

“You don’t know anything!” The older raven spat as he raised his hands again.

“I know that you’re doppelganger magic is only effective when there is magic greater than itself in the area.” Gray’s blue eyes glinted dangerously as he tore off his dress shirt, “All I had to do was divert my magic a little and then you were screwed.”

“You BASTARD!”

Gerard went to run at him when Gray brought his hands together in a stance that he hasn’t used since the Magic Games. This is the only time he would thank Rufus and his memory magic no matter how much it pissed him off,

“Ice Make: Unlimited… One Sided Chaotic Dance!”

In the blink of an eye, an innumerable amount of ice swords appeared surrounding Gray like a jagged dragon’s tail ready to lash out at its prey. Gerard scoffed and attempted to recreate it, only to find that he wasn’t able to. Before he could even try and mimic Gray’s stance, the chain of swords charged at him repeatedly. As he was preoccupied by the swords the ice mage sprinted towards the blinded asshole and punched him in the gut before kicking him with all his might. Gerard flew through the sky and hit one of the remaining metal supports that once held up the guild.

Before his foot touched the ground, his other leg gave out from under him nearly sending him to the ground. Luckily a pair of arms wrapped around his waist to prevent him from doing so; he glanced behind him and noticed the surprised eyes of Jellal staring down at him. The raven smiled exhaustedly as he slowly willed himself to stand on his own; after all he still had work to do. Jellal hesitantly let the raven go and backed away from him, for he sensed a familiar aura coming towards them. Gray raised an eyebrow in question when he suddenly felt scorching hot arms wrapping around his waist tightly. The raven turned in the embrace and nearly burst into tears at what he saw.

“Gray Fullbuster, if you ever do something like…”

Natsu’s rant was swiftly cut off when the ice mage pressed his lips against those of his mate. Tears of happiness managed to escape his eyes as he realized that Natsu was still alive… he didn’t lose him. They pulled apart and stared at each other afraid that once more, someone would try to tear them away from each other. Natsu ran the pad of his thumb over the fallen tears and smiled at his mate in relief,

“I’m so happy you’re alright.”

“I can say the same to you, you damn heroic fire asshole,” Gray mumbled, “If you ever do that again I’ll kill you.”

“…No you won’t.” Natsu said bluntly, but with a soft smile.

“True,” Gray whispered as he nuzzled in the warm neck, “But I can say no sex until the end of time.”

Gray chuckled silently when he saw whatever was left of Natsu’s colour drain from his face. The raven glanced behind the dragon slayer and saw the other holders of his cores were awake as well. He sighed and pulled away from his mate reluctantly before turning to the unconscious raven lying brokenly against the pillar.

“We have one more thing left to do.” Gray forced back a yawn, “And this time we’re going to do it right.”

Natsu nodded before placing a soft kiss on his lover’s forehead,

“Lucy, make sure Niall and Shiro don’t wander off.”

The blonde nodded and held onto the twins’ hands tightly; Niall and Shiro looked like they were about to burst into tears knowing that their family was still alive. Lyon was right, their parents were a bunch of stubborn idiots and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Okay, Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, Lyon, Laxus, James, Juvia and Natsu you need to form a circle around me.”

Without question, the seven elements gathered around Gray causing a bright circle to erupt under his feet. The magic pressure was putting strain on his body, but he could handle it; after this was over, Natsu was going to give him a back massage and then cuddle him for the next week and a half… yeah… that sounded great.  Gray raised both of his hands and a familiar, yet not familiar, looking Ice Cannon appeared in his hands. He aimed the cannon at Gerard’s form and let the different parts of the core drift into him. He closed his eyes and felt as the shockwave of power exploded from his feet,

“ _A World without War, A World without Sin, A World without Hunger, A World that’s best for our Kin. Through the Water he shall be purified and through Earth he shall remain, Through Lightning it shall be nullified and Through Wind it shall be cleansed, Through Metal he shall be bound and Through Fire he shall be scorned, finally Through Ice it shall be sealed never again shall this man’s doppelganger magic be wield!”_

As Gray’s voice boomed along with the elements, the cannon within his hands fired causing a small cry of pain to escape his lips. He felt a rush when the Core returned to him as he knew it would. For what felt like the millionth time, his knees buckled, however, a comforting warmth wrapped him up like a blanket. He smiled softly and nuzzled into the heat of his dragon slayer while listening to the healthy heart as it beat against his ear.

“Sleep love,” He heard a soothing voice whisper, “You deserve it.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading!


	19. Happiness At Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And finally we reach the end of this 19 Chapter journey! I hope you enjoy it!

The snow fell gracefully to the ground like a well-planned ballet; the crisp air blanketed over him like a comforting blanket. The scent of the pine trees resting just outside of Magnolia wafted into his nose reminding him of his very distant home. He always loved and hated the first snow fall of the season because it brought so many memories for him. He hated it for many years because it made him think of Ur and then Lyon, but then the birth of his sons happened.

Ever since the birth of his sons he had felt that he could forgive the winter for the harshness it always seemed to bring him. The moment he saw his sons for the first time, he knew that winter couldn’t be all too bad; after all, that winter weather that seemed to take away so many allowed his newborn sons to live.

The cold wind brushed against his pale arms as he sat in front of his house causing the smallest of goosebumps to rise on his forearms. His hands twitched every now and again from their soreness, but he was able to push it to the back of his mind so he could enjoy this moment. He leaned his head against the wooden railing and sighed as he thought about Niall and Shiro hanging out at the guild with their family members. It had taken a while, but the guild was finally starting to straighten up and the past was slowly getting pushed behind him, but so many things happened that it was hard for him to forget it.

“Gray?”

The raven glanced up and smiled at his pink haired heater as he sat next to him. He noticed the masked concerned in his lover’s eyes so he smiled at him reassuringly to let him know that everything was alright. The tenseness that Natsu carried in his shoulders disappeared and he tenderly reached out and rubbed his rough fingers over Gray’s still bandaged hands. Gray leaned his head on the tanned shoulder and let out a calming sigh.

“Are you okay?”

Gray nodded exhaustedly and continued to watch the snow fall. Natsu wrapped his arm around his love’s waist and pulled him close. He didn’t fight it and allowed the pinkette to pull him onto his lap and nuzzle his forehead into the back of his neck. A small smile spread across his lips at the familiar gesture and a hum of contentment escaped him. Natsu’s chuckle brought him out of his musings completely causing him to turn around so that he was now straddling the pinkette with their foreheads pressed together gently.

“What are you laughing at flame brain?”

“Oh nothing…” Natsu smirked as he traced circles on Gray’s abs.

The raven choked on a laugh that threatened to emerge and he squirmed away from the rough finger. Natsu simply tightened his hold and planted a soft kiss on the tip of his nose; Gray would continue to deny the red tint that spread across his cheeks at the moment for many years to come. Natsu’s warm fingers massaged his sides soothingly as they mingled with the newly fallen snow; he immediately relaxed and rested his head on his mate’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re okay love?” The pinkette asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m just not used to the quiet anymore.” Gray whispered, “I’m not used to not having people chasing after me.”

Natsu laughed darkly,

“Well I hope we do get used to it.”

The raven nodded as he basked in the scent of sparks and campfire that naturally came off his dragon slayer’s skin. Another hum escaped him as he felt Natsu’s long fingers carding through his hair. He missed moments like these; they haven’t happened too often in the past little while because of hospital time. Between Natsu’s hospital time and his own, they barely saw each other; let’s just say that the nurses and doctors regretted that decision almost immediately. With Gray having nightmares about Natsu, Niall and Shiro dying every night along with Natsu’s insanely overprotective nature, they learned that they had to put them in the same rooms or they would be in the hospital forever.

“You were up early again…” Natsu mumbled against the top of his head.

“Yeah…”

The pinkette sighed sadly,

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Gray shook his head and buried his nose into the crook of Natsu’s neck,

“I’m fine; they’re less frequent now anyway.”

Silence enveloped the two lovers as they became trapped in their own thoughts. They knew that what happened would bother them for a while, but they were slowly getting better. They knew that they hadn’t lost each other, but at the same time they knew that they almost did. If Gray hadn’t been called to his sons, the core would’ve killed him, if Natsu hadn’t received the Fire core after the Core Explosion spell he would’ve bled out. Gray pushed back a sob and pressed his lips against the side of his lover’s neck,

“I love you; I would give my life for you, but always know that I’ll never leave you…”

“I love you; I’ll fight for your life and always know that I’ll never willingly let you go…”

FTFTFTFT

Niall ran out of the back doorway and towards the river flowing behind the guild. Fresh tears were rolling down his face and he couldn’t do anything to stop them. He could hear his older brother running towards him and he could feel the unbridled anger that was rolling off the young salamander in waves. His flames were dancing across his skin and he looked like he was ready to beat the snot out of anyone who came near. A broken sob escaped Niall’s lips as he ran to Shiro and threw his arms around his neck. He flinched slightly from the heat, but felt the taller pinkette reign in his flames and hug him back.

“Shhh,” Shiro whispered soothingly as he rubbed his hand up and down his younger brother’s back, “Don’t listen to them.”

“B-But they were right…” Niall sobbed, “I-If I never came back the guild wouldn’t have been destroyed a-and people wouldn’t have b-been hurt!”

“Niall shut your mouth before I punch you in the face.” The pinkette muttered, “None of this is your fault, do you understand me?”

The small raven nodded his head hesitantly and swiped the tears that cascaded down his cheeks, but couldn’t keep up with the tears that continued to fall. Shiro ran his fingers through the soft raven hair comfortingly and whispered soothing words to his younger brother. Niall accepted his brother’s touch and clung to him as the memories of that fateful day played in his mind…

_***_

_Niall clung to his older brother’s hand as he felt their Core reacting to the use of their Papa’s. They both felt the excruciating pain that travelled down Gray’s arms as he fired the cannon of power at the fallen Sellon Gerard. However, they also felt the sense of relief that their Papa felt before he fell asleep in their Dad’s arms. Niall glanced around and noticed that everyone had relaxed and were now sitting on the ground. The tension that once surrounded them was slowly dissipating as they realized that their fight was finally over. Niall tugged on Shiro’s hand once before they were both running full speed towards their parents._

_“Dad!” Shiro called as they approached them, “Dad, is Papa alright?!”_

_“He’ll be fine,” Dad whispered as he sunk to the ground with Papa pulled to his chest, “Are you guys okay?”_

_Niall nodded frantically and Shiro smiled before they curled up against their parents’ side. Niall laid his head on his Papa’s arm while Shiro leaned against their Dad. They both felt as their Dad relaxed from their presence and allowed them to move even closer. The sounds of the other members of the guild could be heard behind them letting relief flow through him; now Niall knew that the other members of his family were alright. He definitely couldn’t ask for anything more; everyone was going to need a vacation after this._

_“Members of Fairy Tail!”_

_Niall’s head snapped up and his eyes zeroed in on a group of people walking towards their fallen guild. It was a group of ten men and women adorned in long black cloaks; the man at the head of the group carried a large wooden staff that carried a vast amount of power within it. Even from a distance, Niall knew that the staff was very dangerous; it held the majority of the holder’s magic power. The leader was very old with a long silvery beard and long silvery hair; his face was covered in wrinkles and his dark eyes carried a certain wisdom in them that made Niall want to trust him._

_“Gran Dorma,” Dad growled, “Haven’t you done enough!”_

_Niall felt the colour drain from his face… if the man was named Gran Dorma that meant that he was the head of the Magic Council. Niall glanced at the people behind Dorma and realized that they were most likely the other members of the Magic Council. After everything that they’ve been through, the Magic Council was going to take them away…_

_The Magic Council was going to take Papa away…_

_He couldn’t let that happen…_

_Without hesitation, Niall pushed himself to his feet and ran towards the approaching mages. He could hear his father yelling bloody murder behind him and he is well aware of the running footsteps coming towards him. He knew from the presence that it was Toshiro and Lyon because his father was preoccupied with his Papa. Niall quickly turned on his heel and brought his hands together,_

_“Ice Make: Rampart!”_

_A large wall sprouted from the already broken ground and spread out so far and so high that no one would be able to run around or above it. He could hear Lyon and Shiro screaming at him from the other side, but he just pushed them out of his mind. At this moment he was happy that Lyon lost his ice magic after he was awoken from the Iced Shell; he would’ve been the only one who could destroy the Rampart right away._

_“Niall Dragneel I presume?”_

_The small raven turned to the Magic Council who stood before him. He looked up at the old man and noticed that he had a paternal smile on his face. The smile both made him nervous and safe; he wasn’t sure that he felt about those emotions co-existing. Niall kept his eye contact with him as he nodded his head,_

_“Don’t take us away from Papa and Dad!” He pleaded, “And don’t take Papa away from his family!”_

_“Young Dragneel…”_

_“Please!” Niall felt tears gather in his eyes, “We haven’t done anything wrong! Toshiro and I can’t even use the Core and Papa doesn’t like to use it unless he has to protect the people he loves!”_

_“Young Dragneel…”_

_“Sellon Gerard attacked us! Shouldn’t there be some kind of warning or something?!”_

_“Niall Dragneel!”_

_Niall froze and looked up at Gran Dorma with hazy deep blue eyes. He felt a warm hand ruffle his hair soothingly and the Head of the Magic Council kneeled in front of them so that they were eye to eye,_

_“Release your ice magic so that I may talk to Master Makarov and your parents young one, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”_

_The raven blinked owlishly at the man as some tears rolled down his cheeks. He glanced at his massive wall causing it to break into millions of snow-like particles. He heard the running footsteps of Lyon and Toshiro once more, but this time their arms managed to wrap themselves tightly around him. Behind Shiro’s shoulder, he noticed his Dad carrying his Papa’s smaller form towards them… and he looked pissed._

_“Niall Lyon Dragneel…” He growled._

_“Dad, wait Gran Dorma wants to talk to you and Gramps!” Niall cut him off nervously._

_“Gramps is busy at the moment Dorma, so I should suffice.” Dad glared at the older mage._

_He carefully handed Papa over to Uncle Lyon and stood protectively in front of us. Sweat was practically pouring off him from overexertion, but he remained steady on his feet. His hands were clenched at his side and his eyes never left those of the head of the Magic Council._

_“Very well,” Dorma consented, “First, I’d like to offer you our greatest apologies; we never meant for this to happen.”_

_“Bullshit…”_

_“Let me speak Natsu Dragneel,” Dorma glared at Dad slightly, “The man sitting before you is not the Sellon Gerard you met eight years ago, for the Annihilation Squad of Fiore was disbanded five years ago due to the mass genocide of a northern country.”_

_“W-What?” Uncle Lyon whispered in disbelief._

_“Sellon Gerard was corrupted by the power of Zeref not long after Gray Fullbuster and Niall Dragneel escaped Magnolia to the land of Hielo. After close inspection of the Core of Magic and the personality of Gray Fullbuster, we came to the conclusion that we had no reason to fear neither the Core nor the sons of the Core. We called off the ‘hit’ on Gray and his sons a year after they left Magnolia.” Dorma explained, “Sellon Gerard, however became obsessed with the Core for all the wrong reasons and turned to Zeref, where he learned his Doppelganger Magic.”_

_Niall glanced up at the man and then up at his father before stepping forward, his hand held tightly in Shiro’s,_

_“Does this mean that we can stay together?”_

_“Yes…”_

_Before the man could continue both Niall and Toshiro launched themselves at the aging mage. They hugged the man tightly before letting go and running back to their father and grabbing onto his hands…_

_They were free…_

_***_

“Niall! Toshiro! Boys where are you?!”

The twins glanced up from their embrace and noticed that their parents were walking out of the back door of the guild with worried expressions on their face. Niall noticed that Papa was still exhausted, but he did look better than he did a few months ago. Shiro released his younger twin and allowed him to run to Papa so he could get the comfort he needed. The small raven ran with tears still rolling down his cheeks and wrapped his arms around his Papa’s waist tightly. Papa ran his bandaged hands through his hair soothingly; just as Shiro was doing before.

“Don’t listen to them,” Papa murmured as he leaned down so that they were at eye level, “If they say that about you, then they are not you’re nakama.”

“B-But…”

“Mira, Elfman, Romeo, Wendy, Gajeel, Erza, Lucy, Gramps, Alzack, Bisca, their kids, James, Laxus, the Thunder Tribe and the others who have been with us since the beginning, they are the only ones who matter. They don’t blame you Ni and they never will blame you; they know what you’ve been through, they know. The people who said that to you are not your family, so don’t worry about it, okay?”

Niall rubbed at his eyes and chuckled sadly,

“Does that mean I can practice my ice make magic on them like I did in Hielo?”

Papa smiled and pulled him into a hug,

“Only when they’re not looking; now go practice with Shiro, I know you want to.”

Niall nodded and a watery smile spread across his blotchy face. He smiled up at his Dad and let him ruffle his hair before running to his older brother,

“Ice Make: Ice Geyser!”

“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”

Gray smiled on at his sons as he felt the familiar warm arm wrap around his waist and pull him close. He glanced up at the love of his life and placed a firm kiss on the side of his jaw causing the pinkette to lean down and capture his lips passionately. When they separated they continued to look into each other’s eyes, onyx meeting mismatched blue. With one more emotion filled kiss, they turned towards their sparring children and laughed as they blew each other back.

“You know,” Gray whispered, “They remind me of someone.”

“Yeah…” Natsu agreed, “Us.”

The raven chuckled and punched his lover in the arm,

“What do you say we get a little practice of our own?”

Natsu regarded his mate carefully with a protective air radiating around him,

“You sure you’re up for it?”

“Definitely, my hands might be bandaged, but they can still move Flame Brain,” Gray stuck out his tongue, “or are you that afraid to lose?”

“Let’s get it on ice block!”

The lovers separated for the first time in their weeks back at home and stood at opposite ends. The snow continued to fall lightly from the sky decorating the ground in a thin layer of white; give a couple weeks and there would be enough snow for the legendary snow ball fights of Fairy Tail. Gray glanced over at his sons and saw the bright smiles on Niall and Toshiro’s faces as they sparred against each other. For the first time in months, the twins looked genuinely happy and that just made his heart flutter.

The older raven returned his gaze back to his husband and smiled at him with the brightest smile he could muster. He almost burst into laughter at the dumbfounded look that spread across his lover’s face; he knew he didn’t smile like that often, but to see that look on Natsu’s face was priceless. Natsu smiled back at his lover and got into a stance, Gray getting to his own onto his own on the other side. He could hear the other members of the guild running into the back area cheering at the top of their lungs. He could hear Erza and Jellal, Gajeel and Levy, Lucy and Loke, Lyon and Juvia, Wendy and Romeo, Mira and Elfman, Laxus and Freed, Lisanna and Bickslow, Macao and Wakaba, and James and Gramps. He had never felt so secure and free in the longest time…

It took eleven long years to accept his past and push towards the future…

It took eleven long years for him to realize that he deserved to be loved…

But surprisingly, he was okay with it… because what is a life without a few obstacles…

After all… who said that the Road to Happiness was going to be easy?

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Onward to the fourth and final installment of "The Core of Magic Tetralogy" ~

**Author's Note:**

> PS. Mashima STILL owns FT and all of my feelings!


End file.
